


Voltron whumptober2019

by Stardustwrites17



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Aged-Up Character(s), Angst with a Happy Ending, Asphyxiation, Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), Blood, Bombs, Broken Bones, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, Crying, Dads of Marmora (Voltron), Drugs, Episode Related, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fever, Fever Dreams, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hallucinations, Hugs, Hunk (Voltron) Whump, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Kidnapping, Lance (Voltron) Whump, M/M, Minor Injuries, Mugging, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Non-Consensual Hugging, Panic Attacks, Pidge | Katie Holt Whump, Post-Season/Series 08 Finale, Pre-Kerberos Mission, Scars, Serious Injuries, Shiro (Voltron) Whump, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Stitches, Team Fluff, Team as Family, Tears, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-07 11:03:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 27,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21457003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stardustwrites17/pseuds/Stardustwrites17
Summary: All of my whumptober prompts I wrote for October and posted on tumblr. Any trigger warnings I'll put it on the notes. I'll be posting as quick as I can. Enjoy!
Relationships: Adam & Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Adam & Keith (Voltron), Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Allura & Coran & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Allura & Keith (Voltron), Coran & Keith (Voltron), Hunk & Keith (Voltron), Keith & Krolia (Voltron), Keith & Lance (Voltron), Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt
Comments: 32
Kudos: 180





	1. 1. Just don't let go

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Shaky hands   
Shiro & Keith  
Tw: Referenced past child abuse & panic attack   
This is a short one, but I hope you enjoy!

His hands wouldn’t stop shaking. His breaths rattled in his chest, as if he couldn’t get enough air in. He hesitated, looking at his shaking hand. 

It was just a nightmare. He could get over it without Shiro’s help. 

But maybe just a peek? Just to make sure Shiro was alright. 

But he forgot that the doors opened fully, even if you didn’t want to. 

He stood frozen at the doorway, watching as Shiro shifted and woke up. 

“Keith?”

This was it. He had messed up. He had woken him up and now he was going to get punished. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe. 

He flinched when a hand landed on his shoulder. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up. I’m really sorry please” 

He didn’t even know what he was saying anymore, his breath rattled in his chest, he couldn’t hear what the person was saying, he was pushing them away and backing up against the wall. Immediately he regretted it. His foster dad had never liked when he struggled, it had always made it worse. 

And suddenly he was on the floor, on his knees, expecting the blow that was inevitable at this point. 

He felt like he was drowning, his hands wouldn’t stop shaking, why wouldn’t his hands stop shaking??

And then someone grabbed his hands, gentle but firm, and held them against their chest. 

Words finally filtered into his brain 

“-deep breaths for me, buddy. C'mon you can do it. In… and out”

He tried to do as he was told but the breaths came out shakily and a whine of distress rose up to his throat. 

He never did anything right, he couldn’t even breathe correctly and he was going to get punished any second now-

“It’s okay. No one is going to hurt you here, Keith. You’re safe. You’re in the castle of lions, remember?”

For a horrible moment, he didn’t. Then memories started appearing.

Shiro. Lance. Hunk. Pidge. Allura. Coran. 

Voltron. 

“Let’s try breathing again, okay bud?”

Keith nodded jerkily, and through eyes blurred with tears he could finally see Shiro, kneeling in front of him, holding his shaking hands in his own. 

His breath came out shakily, but it didn’t get caught in his throat when he inhaled. 

“You’re doing great, kiddo. I’m so proud of you”

The words made some of the ice in his chest melt and he inhaled again. 

Ten minutes of this and he was breathing properly again. His hands we’re still shaking.

“Better?” 

He nodded as Shiro sat next to him. His hands felt cold the second Shiro let go of them. 

“You wanna talk about it?”

“I uh- had a nightmare, and for a moment I” he swallowed “I thought I was in that house again”

Shiro didn’t ask in what house. He didn’t need to.

“I just- I wanted to check if you were alright”

Keith started feeling like he was drowning again. Then Shiro put his arm around his shoulders, and he didn’t feel like he was drowning anymore.

“We’re okay, kiddo. We’re safe” 

The words brought tears to his eyes. God he was so tired.

He leaned tiredly into Shiro’s side and the black paladin pressed a kiss to his temple.

His hands finally stopped shaking.


	2. Sounding heartbeats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2\. Explotion  
Collective whump. Team as family. Tw: explotion, obviously.

“Shiro we have to hurry” Keith looked around anxiously, bayard at the ready 

“Pidge needs 3 more minutes” Shiro’s voice sounded strained, betraying how anxious he was to leave this place as well. 

They were guarding the entrance to the comms room of the galra base as Pidge downloaded the data from the galran computer. 

“One more minute” Pidge promised “I’m almost there”

Keith exhaled. Seemed like everything was going to be alright.

Then the bomb exploded.

Later they would be told that the bomb was set to go off when a download reached 93%, and only two people in the base had known how to override it. Of course Pidge hadn’t known. 

Keith blinked, and suddenly everything was going on slow motion. 

He heard the quick blips that the bomb gave before it detonated. He barely had time to think before instinct took over, and he was lunging at Shiro. 

The bomb went off, and he was thrown into the air again before he had even landed on top of Shiro. He hit a wall, debris raining on him, his side flared with pain, and he could only hear static.  _ Painfully loud static.  _

He was on the floor now, black spots dancing in and out of his vision, looking at a black and white blur that was getting closer. 

And then someone grabbed his arm, yanking him into a seating position. He tried to get away, but the person wouldn’t give up. 

“-eith!” 

He knew that voice… but why did it sound like it was coming from underwater?

“-go now” 

Go? Where? 

And then he remembered. The mission. The bomb. Pidge. Lance. Hunk. Shit.

He pushed himself of the ground and he was immediately dragged into the room where the bomb had exploded. Dimly he could hear an alarm, but that sounded as if it was coming from underwater too. And what was that ringing sound?

“Grab Hunk. I’ll get Pidge and Lance. We need to leave before the sentries come... Keith?”

But dance spots were covering his vision again, the room was spinning. God he felt terrible. If the room kept spinning like this he was going to puke, and he didn’t want to do that with his helmet on. What would happen if-

Slap!

His vision refocused when his head whipped to a side, his cheek burning.

“Grab. Hunk.”

Hunk. They needed to leave, the sentries were on their way.

He made his way to the bigger body on the floor and he tried not to notice the bloody hair, or the fact that the helmet had gotten knocked out of Hunk’s head by the blast. 

His legs shook and threatened to let him fall as he picked a groaning Hunk onto his back like the scariest and bloodiest piggyback ride ever. 

He looked towards Shiro, who was holding Pidge with his flesh arm, the girl propped up on his hip with her arms around his neck and her head on his shoulder. 

Lance was slung over his metal shoulder, completely limp on his hold.

“Let’s go”

Keith honestly did not know how they got to the lions. His legs shook every step of the way and his shoulder was burning from a yet unknown injury.

Maybe it had to do with the fact that the lions came to them.

Yeah, that must be it. Because there’s no way they would have survived otherwise. He preferred not to think about it.

Red wasn’t even gentle about it. There was a roar, the hall trembled and then she ripped the wall like it was paper, throwing it away with her teeth. And a second later he was sitting on the pilot’s chair, Hunk sitting on the floor propped up against the wall.

His ears were still ringing. 

They arrived at the castle not long after, and Keith immediately stumbled out of his lion, feeling like he was going to puke if he didn’t touch solid ground immediately. Coran was already there and without a word climbed into the lion, shape shifting his size so he could carry Hunk better. The black lion was here too and he saw Allura carrying Pidge while Shiro carried Lance on his shoulder, the blue paladin still out cold.

Shiro turned his head and looked at him, saying something Keith didn’t catch. He walked towards him. He flinched when a hand landed on his shoulder, the memory of the slap still fresh and Shiro backed away, which in Keith’s confused state hurt more than the slap itself. And then Shiro grabbed his hand gently and tugged him towards the door where Allura and Coran were calling them 

“-okay?” Shiro asked him, but Keith didn’t understand. Did he want to know if he was okay? Had Shiro asked him something else?

Shiro looked at him for a moment before he shouted something at Coran that sounded suspiciously like “four pods!”

Did he need a pod? Maybe. His head hurt. And his side. And… everything really.

They arrived at the infirmary as Keith pondered this. 

There were five pods at the ready. Oh yeah, he was going into a pod. 

Shiro seemed to be protesting about something, but Coran’s tone made it clear who was winning the argument. 

Shiro went over to one of the closets and handed him a white suit. He started at it for a few moments. 

Shiro grabbed his hand again and guided him to the curtains that served as changing rooms. 

Then he left, and Keith started fumbling with the the armour, trying to get it off. 

He didn’t know how long it took him to get the armour off, but as he stumbled to get his left boot off, he groaned in frustration. His head hurt. His shoulder hurt. He was scared, tired and hurt. It wasn’t fair. 

Immediately, Shiro appeared, looking frantic, but quickly relaxed when he saw Keith was okay (well, as okay as he could be given the circumstances).

Keith blushed when Shiro sent him an easy smile and started helping him get his black under armour off. He was in the white suit in a minute. 

When he got out from behind the curtain he saw Lance and Pidge already in the pods and Hunk was on his way too. 

And then, seeing his team safe and on the mend, his body decided that it had had enough. 

His knees buckled, and he would have fallen face first into the floor if not for Shiro who seemed to had been expecting it and scooped him up in a swift movement. He was placed in a pod, but before Shiro could back away, he grabbed his arm. Keith’s tongue felt heavy for some reason, but it didn’t really matter, because Shiro seemed to understand.

He wanted to say it back, but he couldn’t speak, and the pod was already closing. 

The last thing he saw was Shiro’s face crumple and his eyes roll to the back of his head before he fell into an unwanted (but very much needed) sleep. 


	3. Confused memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3\. Delirium   
Keith & Shiro, Keith & Keith's dad.  
Angst with a somewhat happy ending.

Keith woke up in his couch.

What the fuck was he doing in his couch?

It wasn’t even the shack’s old couch were he had slept for a year. It was his house’s couch. 

His father’s house. 

Home.

He tried to recall what he had been doing the day before, but he couldn’t remember. 

He could hear someone bustling around in the kitchen, and a sweet aroma filled the living room. Pancakes? 

He got up and stumbled to the kitchen. Why was his body so heavy? It didn’t matter, he had to check-

And there he was. 

His dad stood behind the counter, his back to him, a stack of pancakes next to the frying pan.

He turned around and smiled at him 

“‘Morning kiddo” 

His father looked exactly the same as he had when he had last seen him. His black hair tinted with a few gray streaks, his eyes grey and crinkled from smiling too much.

“Dad?” His father grinned at him 

“The one and only. What do you want with your pancakes, syrup or jam?”

“What’s going on? Where am I? How am I here?”

His dad frowned, walking over to him. His hand landed on his shoulder 

“You hit your head yesterday, remember? Maybe it was more serious than I thought. Your mom will be here soon, we should go to the doctor when she comes back”

“My… mom?”

This was wrong.

All wrong. He was supposed to be doing something. He was supposed to be with Shiro… he couldn’t remember

“Where’s Shiro?”

His dad tilted his head to one side and a pang of hurt hit Keith like a wrecking ball. 

It was all so familiar. The hand on his shoulder, the way his father’s eyes shone when he smiled, the lazy mornings with pancakes… God he had missed it all so much.

“Takashi Shirogane? In the Garrison I suppose. Why?”

“I was supposed to be with him”

His dad frowned again “you haven’t seen Takashi in three weeks. You’ve been staying here for the summer holidays. Don’t you remember?”

Keith backed away until his back hit the wall. 

Something was wrong. He couldn’t think straight. 

Shiro. Shiro was important somehow. Ugh, everything was too loud, his father was calling for him and there was something else, a voice, coming from somewhere, but it sounded as if it was coming from underwater. 

“ _ Keith _ !”

And know he was on his knees, and his father was in front of him, gripping his shoulders. And then Keith launched forward and hugged his father close, gripping at his old worn vest.

“Keith, what’s wrong?” There was a hand running through his hair and he shivered. Why was he so cold all the sudden?

“Don’t let go of me” he said, not looking up from where his face was buried in his dad’s shoulder. His dad held him, rocking backwards and forwards, like he used to do when he was a kid. 

“I’m not leaving you, Keith. I’ll never leave you” 

His grip tightened, and something inside him was screaming at him to hold his father close, that he was going to disappear if he didn’t, that something bad was going to happen.

And then he woke up.

He felt disoriented, dizzy, even though his eyes weren’t opened the room was spinning, tilting to one side as shivers ran down his feverish body. 

“Come on buddy, wake up. It’s just a dream” 

That voice. He knew that voice. 

Shiro?

But his father had said Shiro was at the Garrison. What would Shiro be doing in his home?

And more importantly, where was his father?

“Shiro?”

Shiro pulled away to look at his face, which honestly annoyed Keith. His eyes hurt from the too bright lights and the movement made his head spin even faster.

“Keith? You awake, bud?”

“‘Course I am. Where am I? Where’s my dad? He- he was here a minute ago”

And then Shiro’s face fell. A heavy feeling settled in Keith’s gut.

“Keith, you’re in the castle of lions. You’re sick. Your dad…” he sighed “Keith, your dad died when you were eight years old. Remember?”

It all came crashing down. 

The fire. The foster homes. Shiro. The Garrison. Kerberos. The blue lion. Lance. Pidge. Hunk. Coran. Allura. 

His father. 

It hit him as hard as it had that night, the first one he had spent in a group home.

His father wasn’t coming back. 

And to his horror, tears welled up in his eyes. A sob escaped his chest, and then he was crying as hard as that first night.

But there was a difference. Shiro was here. He didn’t really know if that was better or worse. 

Shiro gathered him up in his arms, hugging him close as he broke down.

He didn’t seem to care that tears and snot were getting on his clothes -his father’s vest, now that he thought about it. More tears welled up in his eyes- and Keith decided not to care neither for the moment. 

His dad was gone. 

They stayed that way for a few minutes, Shiro’s hand running through his hair as he whispered words into Keith’s ear, even though Keith didn’t really process what he was hearing. 

He got the intention though. Shiro cared about him. He wasn’t alone. 

He wasn’t eight anymore, hugging a pillow that was not his own as he tried not to sob too loudly. 

He had a team that cared for him. He had a family. 

It took him a week to get back on his feet. The team kept him company, which meant more to him than the others ever believed. He later remembered that he had gotten sick because of the intoxicated air on a planet they had visited that was venomous to galra. 

The hurt from the loss of his father didn’t really disappear. 

It never did. But as time wore on, he replaced the painful memories with new ones. New ones about his found family and about his mother. 

The old hurt never left, but the new love covered up.

And that was fine with him.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who's wondering, yes, my endings are always this cheesy.  
Comments give me life :)


	4. I'll protect you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 4\. Human shield   
Keith & pidge   
Rating: T   
No trigger warnings I can think of... enjoy!!

Pidge was tiny. 

She was. It was just a fact. Lance was lanky, Shiro was buff and Pidge was tiny. 

But the thing was Keith never truly realized just how small she was until he was hugging her close to his chest, his whole body wrapped around her as flames erupted everywhere around them. 

The thing was, Keith wasn’t scared. Nope. He was downright annoyed.

This was supposed to be the easiest mission ever. 

Get into the abandoned galran base, figure out what had chased the galra away from this sector, and leave. 

A two person job. Pidge was supposed to hack into the servers and download the security cameras’ feed while Keith watched her back. Simple.

But then the ambush happened. 

It was so stupid. The base had been conquered by pirates weeks ago, and when they found out voltron was planning to visit, they placed boobytraps everywhere, the traps being either tiny explosives, toxic gas or shockers (Keith had stepped on one, but the armour had thankfully stopped most of the electric current). Then they hid and waited. 

It was a trap. And they had fallen right into it. 

He scolded himself for not foreseeing it as he closed the door, still hearing the pirates shouting and jeering from the other side pounding at the door. 

They had tried to contact the other the moment they realized their mistake, but something was blocking the signal.

Panting with his hands on his knees, he looked at Pidge, who was already working on the computer

“Now what?”

“I’m going to try to override every boobytrap from here, so that the gas ones all go off simultaneously”

After a few seconds she groaned in frustration 

“What?”

“Every single trap has an access code, _ a 20 digit password _ , I would need to hack every trap, one at a time, in order to set them off” a bang from the door cut her off “and we don’t have that kind of time”

Keith thought for a second

“What if you overload the system entirely?”

She frowned “that would make the traps explode. We would basically be turning the entire base into a bomb”

“Which takes care of our pirate problem. We’ll call our lions, have them wait for us and once you overload the system, we’ll get out”

Pidge frowned as she tapped at her forearm, making a 3D map of the base appear.

“We’re currently here” she pointed to a room at the east wing “the nearest exit is through here, two corridors ahead. We could, in theory, crawl through the vents, get out in this corridor and run to the hanger” she grinned at him “this could actually work”

She turned to the computer “I’ll make a timer. We have 10 ticks to get to the hanger”

“What about the video feeds we came for?”

“The pirates deleted it all, this was pointless”

“Great” he took a deep breath “okay let’s go”

Pidge set the timer, and they ran to the vent on the wall. The moment Keith started crawling, he heard the door that led to the room slammed open. Confused shouts followed by a few animalistic grunts were heard, and the aliens ran out of the room. 

Keith felt offended that they had been fooled by these idiots. 

Everything seemed to be going according to plan. 

Until it all came crashing down. 

“One dobos left!” Pidge told him as they sneaked through the second corridor. Keith sighed in relief as the hangar door appeared as they rounded the corner. But then from the corner of his eye his saw movement, and one of the pirates raised their gun. He was pointing at Pidge. He heard the sound of a blaster charging.

Keith didn’t have time to think. He lunged and tackled the girl to the ground, pushing the girl against his chest. 

For a moment, he didn’t feel anything, and he felt relief pour down his body. Pidge reacted faster than him and sat up, pointed her bayard at the pirate and a second later, the criminal was on the ground, unconscious (or dead) from the electric current of Pidge’s grappling hook 

She looked at the timer “33 ticks”

Keith sat up and immediately grunted, biting back a scream. He looked at his side and immediately wished he hadn’t. 

The blast from the gun had melted the thick undersuit and blood was steadily dripping to the floor. The few seconds he had been laying on the floor, a steady pool of blood had already former around him. 

Pidge must have noticed too, because she went pale 

“Oh shit”

But nevertheless, Keith stood up, swaying on the spot. Pidge immediately pulled his arm around her shoulders, supporting his weight. 

“Ten ticks”

“We’re not gonna make it”

She didn’t respond. They stumbled their way towards the hangar door, already opened. 20 feet… 10 feet…

The timer beeped. Keith looked behind them at the wall of fire and blast of hot air that was coming their way. 

He grabbed Pidge and hugged her close, as he had done barely a minute ago.

_ Please _ he wasn’t sure who he was praying at  _ let Pidge be okay _ . 

The heat seared his skin, and his injury was agony. He couldn’t breathe, he was suffocating, his was wound screaming in pain, his arms still tight around Pidge. 

When he opened his eyes again, he was laying down on his side, surrounded by fire, and he thought of his father, about how he was going to die the same way he had.

And then Pidge was there, struggling in his arms.

“We have to go!” She shouted. He stared at her. She looked scared but determinate as she struggled to get him to sit up. 

He struggled to stand up and she ended up half dragging him to where the green lion was waiting, her golden eyes glinting as she opened her mouth.

Then he passed out. 

He came to when a hand shook his shoulder. 

“C’mon bud, wake up” he groaned

“S’ro?”

“That’s right buddy. I’m gonna pick you up now, okay?”

Keith didn’t really feel like walking, so he nodded. Strong arms surrounded his back and the back of his knees and then he was being scooped up. 

His side burned, and he buried his face in his brother’s shoulder to stifle the whine that rose from his throat.

“I know bud. Don’t fall asleep yet, okay?”

Too late. 

He didn’t exactly fall asleep. He was in and out, seeing his surroundings in flashes. 

They were on a hallway, and he was being carried by Shiro. His eyes closed 

They entered the infirmary, and sound exploded, making him flinch and hide his face in his brother’s shoulder. He noticed Shiro wasn’t wearing his armour, but he was. Why? He couldn’t remember. His eyes closed on their own before he could figure it out. 

He was sitting down on one of the cots, his head resting on Shiro’s shoulder as he helped Hunk manhandle him into one of the white suits. He didn’t even have the energy to be embarrassed. He let them maneuver him until some time later he was being scooped up in someone’s (probably Shiro’s) arms again and he was carried to the pods. His eyes rolled to the back of his head before he was placed into the cryopod.

  
  


He woke up, fully this time, when he started falling from the pod. 

He scrambled to catch himself, but it wasn’t necessary because a pair of strong arms held him up, taking his weight as his sleep-added legs fully woke up. 

“Hmmnnnggg” 

The person holding him chuckled, and the sound vibrates on Shiro’s chest, pressed to his ear. It felt nice.

“You alright, Keith?”

“I hate pods”

“He’s fine then” another voice called, sounding happy but relieved.

Keith finally managed to stand on his own two feet, but Shiro stayed beside him with an arm around his waist to support him. 

“What happened?”

“You were on a mission, remember?”

“No I-“ 

And then it all came back. 

The mission. The ambush. The timer. The fire. 

_ Pidge _ .

He suddenly stood up completely straight, his eyes searching frantically for something. Or someone 

“Pidge” he said, looking up at Shiro “where’s Pidge?”

Shiro frowned “she’s in her room, bud. We sent her to sleep off the mision”

He had to check she was okey.  _ He had to. _

He made a run for it and was close to the door when and arm wrapped around his waist and pulled him back.

“You’re gonna make yourself pass out, man”

When had Hunk arrived?

“I have to-“

“I know” he said, and Keith had a feeling he  _ did _ understand 

“Just… take it easy, alright? You lost a lot of blood” he sounded kind of queasy when he said this, and Keith immediately felt guilty for worrying them. So he nodded, admitting he  _ did _ feel tired, and let hunk walk him to the corridor.

They didn’t have to walk very far though.

Pidge came running from around the corner, and just sped up when he saw Hunk and Keith. 

She barreled into Keith, but he was ready for it, and he wrapped his arms around her. 

She was clinging to his neck, her legs wrapped around her waist. The added weight, made his knees buckle, and he landed on his knees, still refusing to let go. She stepped away first and Keith let her, but his hands stayed on her shoulders. He scanned her for injuries and found that she was okay, even though her eyes shone with tears.

“Never do that again” she sniffled, rubbing her right eye “You scared me half to death, you asshole”

He felt the ball of guilt tighten in his chest again 

“Sorry”

“It’s fine” she sniffled again “But next time you try shielding me from a gun or an explosion, I’m kicking you where it hurts”

He huffed out a laugh “no promises”

“HE WHAT?!”

Shiro sounded mad, worried and alarme all at the same time. Keith's eyes widened 

“You didn’t tell them?”

“Consider it revenge for getting hurt at my expense” she smiled at him.

“Thank you” she muttered a moment later “you saved my life”

“You saved mine” they smiled at each other. 

“Alright” Hunk sounded close to tears as he hauled Keith to his feet “Let’s get some food into you before Shiro kills you” 

Keith smiled as Hunk’s arm surrounded his shoulder and he was pulled close into his side. Pidge grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He squeezed back.


	5. Hold me tight (and don't let go)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompts 5 & 6: gun point and dragged away   
Keith & Shiro, Keith & Adam, Shiro/Adam  
Tw: a child gets slapped but that's it.   
Rating: T   
Slight AU bc Keith is ten in this.

“I’m telling you Shiro! It’s a shortcut!”

The ten year boy pulled on his hand, leading them into the alleyway.

Shiro raised an eyebrow 

“How do you even know about this ‘shortcut’?”

Keith let go of his hand when it was obvious that Shiro wasn’t going to budge, and huffed while rolling his eyes. He pointed towards the narrow path between two houses to their right 

“that leads to the school’s back door, and this one” he pointed to the alleyway he wanted to go through “goes to the town’s center. Now come on!”

He started walking rapidly, entering the alleyway

“Wait up!”

Shiro walked behind him as Keith happily lead the way.

Then they guy jumped from behind the dumpster. 

In different circumstances, Shiro would have been impressed by Keith’s reflexes. 

He was jumping away from the guy, his lips curling in a snarl, body tense as if ready to fight in less than two seconds. 

He ran forward, but stopped when he saw the guy point a gun at Keith. 

“You take one more step, the brat gets it” 

The man sounded southern, the voice muffled by the bandana he was wearing around his mouth. He swayed very gently on the spot, as if he were drunk or high.

Keith had gone pale, frozen in one place as he alternated from looking at the gun to looking at Shiro. 

The guy grabbed Keith by the shoulder roughly, and dragged him to the wall, pinning him there, making him stand on his tiptoes as he gripped his shoulder.

Keith didn’t make a sound, but his eyes spoke volumes as he wiggled.

“Tell the kid to stop or I’ll paint the wall with his brains”

“Keith!” he barked. Keith froze “don’t move”

“The bag” the man snarled at Shiro “ _ Now.”  _

Shiro swallowed thickly. He had important documents in his bag, documents about Kerberos

“We can make a deal” he told the man “I have money on my bag. I’ll reach down and grab it. Just let the kid go” 

The man laughed “nice try. The bag” 

He pointed at Shiro with the gun “I’m not asking again”

Shiro couldn’t breathe. He was so  _ close _ . Just three meters away from Keith, but he couldn’t do anything. 

Then Keith, to Shiro’s horror, bit the hand pinning him to the wall, hard. Hard enough to draw blood. 

The man cursed and let him go, but the victory was short lived, since the man turned to Keith and slapped him hard enough to knock him down 

“Little bastard” he spit.

The moment the thug had let Keith go, Shiro sprung forward. He was too late to avoid the slap that made Keith fall to the ground, but as the man said the insult, he grabbed his shoulder and made him turn around.

Without waiting for the thug to react, he pulled his arm back and punched him across the jaw as hard as he could. 

The thug spun once before falling on the ground. 

Shiro stood there, breathing hard through his mouth as he looked for the gun the thug had dropped. 

There. 

He scooped it up from the floor, discharged it, letting the unused bullets fall to the ground, and threw it as far as he could. 

He then nudged the unconscious man with his foot, but he didn’t stir. 

His hand throbbed, but he didn’t care. 

All he cared about, was the little boy sitting on the floor, hunched over with his arms covering his head. He was shaking like a leaf. 

“Hey” 

No response

“Keith? Buddy?”

When he didn’t respond, he placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. Keith flinched, but didn’t back away. 

“C’mon bud, I want to see you”

Keith slowly lifted his head, still trembling. His eyes were red but dry, and his cheek was red, but otherwise seemed okay. Physically, at least

“Oh kiddo” his voice didn’t break, which he was thankful for, but he felt a lump form in his throat. 

Keith raised his arms slightly, but quickly put them down, embarrassed. 

Shiro didn’t waste time and scooped the child up, hugging him close.

Keith in return wrapped his legs around his waist, his arms almost constricting around his neck as he buried his head on his shoulder. 

They were both shaking now. 

With one arm Shiro rubbed circles on Keith’s back while the other one supported him underneath his legs.

A few moments later, Shiro realized he should’ve probably call the police.

So he did. It took him longer than expected to dial the number, since his hands were shaking too, but he managed. 

The call didn’t last long, and the policewoman promised him they would be there shortly.

Next, he called Adam 

“Takashi?”

Shiro’s entire body sagged with relief

“Hey”

“Everything okay?” Adam said as Shiro asked

“Can you come pick us up?”

“We got mugged” before Adam could get a word in, he said “but we’re fine. The police are on their way”

“Is Keith okay?”

He hesitated, feeling the way Keith was still trembling in his hold, doing his baby koala impersonation 

“He’ll be fine. He’s in shock, I think”

“I’m coming” 

Shiro sighed in relief “thank you”

“Takashi?”

“Yes?”

“How are  _ you _ ?”

He smiled, trying not to feel like a liar when he said 

“I’m okay, Adam. I’ll see you soon”

“Alright… love you”

“Love you too”

He hung up and pocketed his phone. He sighed again, rubbing Keith’s back absentmindedly.

“Keith?”

He tried to push Keith away to see his face, but Keith’s arms tightened around his neck.

“They’re coming” Keith muttered.

Before Shiro could as who was coming, a police car appeared around the corner.

The thug was stirring, but before he was even fully conscious, one of the two policemen had cuffed his wrists. 

The other one approached Shiro. 

“Sir, I’m going to need you to tell me exactly what happened”

The part of Keith’s face that hadn’t been pressing into his shoulder retreated the moment the man had started talking, as if scared by the new voice. 

The policeman noticed and frowned 

“Are you both alright?”

“We’re fine officer. I think he’s in shock”

The policeman nodded, his eyes softer as he observed the child in Shiro’s arms.

“Is he your brother?” 

Shiro hesitated.

“Yeah”

“I recommend getting him home and taking it easy for the rest of the day. Make him feel safe”

Shiro smiled at the man 

“Will do, officer”

While the officers manhandled the man into the police cruiser, Adam arrived. 

His boyfriend’s whole body sagged with relief when he saw the two of them, and Shiro smiled tiredly at him. 

“Hey” 

Adam kissed his lips and then his forehead, needing to stand on his tiptoes in order to do so. 

“You guys alright?”

Shiro looked at Keith’s mop of black hair and then at Adam in quiet desperation. 

Adam looked at Keith.

“Hey, Keith” Adam’s hand landed on Keith’s hair, petting it softly “can I see you?”

Keith moved his head to one side, looking at Adam with big indigo eyes.

“Hey” Keith whispered, his voice smaller than Shiro had ever heard it. Adam smiled softly 

“Hey kiddo” the gentle tone made both Shiro and Keith relax slightly, which made Adam smirk at Shiro for a second before his eyes fell on Keith again.

“We’re going home, alright? We’ll watch one of those star thing movies you like so much, and we’ll make popcorn”

“Star Trek?” Keith’s voice was slightly hopeful now 

“That’s the one”

Keith smiled shyly at Adam, which made the man melt slightly.

And then Keith was struggling to be let down, and Shiro let him, even though it made his chest feel cold. 

Keith stumbled for a moment before finding his footing. He quickly grabbed Adam’s hand, falling into step with the couple. Shiro couldn’t help but notice Keith had positioned himself as far as possible from him. In fact, he didn’t even look at Shiro, even ducking his head when he caught his eye accidentally. 

They drove home in silence, the radio playing a soft tune. 

When Adam parked, the couple stepped out of the car. Keith didn’t move from his seat in the back.

“Give me a minute with him” Shiro said. Adam nodded and walked over to the front door. 

Shiro opened the door that led to the back of the car. 

Keith didn’t look up from his lap, where his hands were clenched tight. 

“Keith” 

He didn’t look up, hunching over even more. Shiro had a feeling why he was acting this way

“Keith, buddy. I wasn’t angry with you. I never was”

There was a moment of silence.

“You yelled” Bingo. It was half an accusation, half a explanation. His voice was hoarse and small “Figured it was my fault”

“Of course it wasn’t your fault bud” he dared to pass an arm around the boy’s shoulders. He was relieved when Keith leaned into his side. 

“I was the one who led you into that alley” He sounded close to tears and he sniffed miserably. 

“Come here”

Keith didn’t need to be told twice. He crawled into Shiro’s lap, and Shiro wrapped his arms around him, feeling his T-shirt becoming damp where Keith’s face was pressed into it.

“It wasn’t your fault, bud”

He promised, rocking back and forward slightly while Keith sobbed quietly

“I’ll never be mad for something like this, alright?”

Keith nodded into his chest. 

“But” Keith tensed slightly again “you have to promise me, Keith, that you will never do that again. You were lucky that the man didn’t hurt you badly. Please, just let me handle these kind of things”

His heart had never hammered so fast as when Keith had bit the man. It could have gone  _ so wrong. _

Shiro knew he was going to see that scene in his nightmares.

Keith looked up, looking confused 

“But you had important stuff in that bag. I couldn’t let him get it”

Shiro grabbed Keith’s shoulders so that he was staring right into his eyes.

“Keith, listen very carefully at what I’m going to tell you.  _ You are more important than any document or file _ . Understand? They’re  _ things _ , you’re a person. There’s no comparison”

Keith’s flushed face stared at Shiro. He nodded, before resting his head against Shiro’s chest again, letting out a tired little sigh as he did.

Shiro smiled 

“You tired bud?”

Keith hummed “a little”

“Alright c’mon, Adam’s waiting for us”

He got out of the car, Keith still in his arms and walked towards the building’s entrance. 

“I can walk, Shiro”

Oh yeah, Keith was back to normal.

“Nah. I like carrying you around”

“Let go!”

Shiro flipped him on his shoulder, holding him upside down.

“Nooooo! Shirooooo”

Keith’s shirt lifted due to gravity being a thing and left Keith’s bony chest exposed.

Shiro was weak to the temptation. 

A moment later Keith’s shrieks filled the air, laughing at Shiro’s tickling.

“Stop!” 

He continued the treatment until they reached their flat.

Adam stood in the living room, as small smile playing on his lips.

“Adam!” Keith shouted, still being attacked by Shiro’s fingers. He stretched out his arms “help me!”

He was being cradled in Shiro’s arms, wriggling as he tried to get away from the merciless tickling. 

Adam walked up to the pair and plucked Keith from Shiro’s arm, letting the boy down. Keith ran and hid behind Adam’s legs.

“Let the kid have a break Shiro” he drawled “he’s had a tough morning”

“Yeah” Keith agreed with all the seriousness he could, which wasn’t much since he was still smiling and giggling from the post-tickling sensation. 

Shiro hung his head dramatically.

But before Adam could walk away, he grabbed him around the waist and slung him over his shoulder 

“Takashi Shirogane!” 

Keith was laughing, right until Shiro scooped him up too and slung him over his other shoulder. 

Protests filled the room along with Shiro’s booming laugh. 

He stumbled over the couch and flopped down, effectively trapping his hostages underneath him 

“You’re squishing me!” Keith protested, hitting Shiro’s shoulder with his free arm.

“Takashi…” 

Shiro pouted “I just want to cuddle with my favorite people”

“How about we do that by watching a movie?”

“Star Trek!”

“The king has spoken”

So five minutes later, they were sitting on the couch, Keith cuddling into Shiro’s side, his eyes on the tv, while he ate popcorn from the bowl on Shiro’s lap.

On Shiro’s other side Adam sat with his head resting on Shiro’s shoulder. 

Shiro turned his head and kissed his fiancé’s temple.

“You okay?” Adam asked 

Shiro smiled, grabbing Adam’s hand.

“Yeah”

And he meant it this time 

…

“You guys are so gross”


	6. Back together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 7\. Stab wound.  
Keith appears in the middle of the night in Lance's apartment, injured and bleeding all over his carpet. The full teams end up gathering.  
Plance. Post-canon (close to the final picture in season 8)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! I just have a lot going on right now. This isn't my favourite honestly, but I did the best I could. Enjoy!

Lance woke up when he heard a bang in his living room. 

Even though it had been 10 years since the war had ended, he was alert the second he opened his eyes. 

He looked for the gun he hid underneath his night stand without turning the lights on.

He then made his way stealthily to his bedroom door, waiting to hear any other sounds.

A thump and a stifled groan of pain. Someone cursed in what he thought was galran. 

He rolled his eyes and walked to the living room, gun loose on his hand.

“You really have to stop doing this, Mullet, it’s the fifth time this month”

Keith, who stood kneeling on his floor, smiled up at him, his grin bloody. Kosmo stood next to him, panting

“What happened this time?” Lance asked, going to the cupboard to grab the medical kit “Another murder attempt? Where did you get cut this time? You know, you should probably tell cosmo to stop bringing you here every time something like this happens”

“Yeah… although this time… I asked Cosmo to take me here”

Lance hummed, finally having found the kit. Cosmo whined impatiently

“Why is that?”

“Lance… look at me”

Lance turned around and really looked at Keith. 

With a pained smile, Keith removed his hand from his side. Blood was pouring down from what was very probably stab wound in his side.

“Holy shit”

Lance hurried to his side.

“For fucks sake, Keith. Next time don’t wait so long to tell me you have a fucking hole on your side”

Keith huffed out a laugh, and then grunted when it pulled on his injury. 

Cosmo, probably satisfied that Keith was finally being taken care of, disappeared in a explosion of blue sparks.

“Where’s he going? We need to get you to the hospital”

But before Keith could respond, Cosmo appeared again, this time with a person who seemed to have been suspended in midair, because he fell to the floor with yelp.

A few curses later, Shiro stood up, looking around wildly, his pajamas rumpled and his hair messy

“Hey Shiro” Lance greeted, holding a gauze to Keith’s side as the man in question hissed and shot a glare at the Cuban.

“Don’t look at me like that, I need to stop the bleeding”

“What the hell happened?”

Shiro knelt next to his brother, cupping the back of his head. Keith leaned into the contact, closing his eyes for a second 

“Refugees either love me or hate me” he muttered, grunting when Lance pressed harder with the gauze “this one just really hated me and caught me by surprise”

“We should get you to the hospital”

“No”

“You’re bleeding all over my carpet, dude. You’re going to the hospital”

Keith hung his head in defeat.

Shiro scoffed and ruffled his hair before standing up.

“Hey Lance, do you have a phone? I need to call Curtis”

“Yeah it’s in my room”

But before Shiro could move, Lance’s eyes widened 

“You know what? I’ll go get it myself, you stay with Keith”

Shiro shrugged and knelt again, pressing a clean gauze to the wound. Lance disappeared behind the door.

Shiro took the gauze and studied the stab wound.

“It’s not that serious” he said after a few seconds of examining it “it definitely needs stitches though”

He looked at Keith “does it hurt?”

Keith only sucked in a breath and nodded. Shiro’s robot arm came to rest on Keith’s nape, rubbing it.

“Hey” Keith looked up “wanna laugh at Lance? ” Keith smiled weakly and nodded

“Hey Lance?!”

Lance walked out of the bedroom, phone in hand 

“Yeah?”

“How’s Pidge doing?”

“Fine, why?”

“How long have you been together?”

“What?!” 

Keith cracked up, even though it pulled at his injury. Lance had sounded so much like he was seventeen, he couldn’t resist it.

“Why would she- I- we didn’t-“ he gave up, his face red. He pointed at Shiro accusitably 

“How did you know?” 

Shiro smirked and pointed to the sofa. Pidge’s jacket lay there, discarded as if Pidge had thrown it.

Lance’s cheeks were flushed as he gave Shiro his phone dejectibely

“I don’t need to tell you what happens if you hurt our girl” Shiro said, looking for Curtis number on Lance’s contacts.

Lance snorted

“She’ll kick my ass”

“Smart boy”

Shiro brought the phone to his ear

“Curtis?”

The loud curses that erupted form the phone made Shiro wince and pull the phone away from his ear for a second.

“Curtis I- listen to me, love-“ he laughed “will you stop screaming for a second. I’m with Lance and Keith. Keith’s hurt, we’re taking him to the hospital” a moment of silence 

“He’ll be fine, I’ll go home when Keith stops bleeding out. Yes. fine. I love you too. Bye”

He hung up, a dopey smile on his face 

“You guys are so sweet it’s sickening”

“I’m not the one who made a Spanish love song for Pidge and-“

“How the fuck do you even know about that”

“Hunk likes to gossip”

“I’m gonna kill that-“

“I’m getting seriously dizzy now”

“Right. Sorry, Keith. Let’s go”

Cosmo barked, and then they all blacked out for a second, before opening their eyes and seeing the Garrison hospital instead of Lance’s living room.

The nurse that was passing by yelped, before calling a doctor to the scene. 

Shiro helped Keith stand up, and the younger man leaned on him as the nurse guided them to an empty room.

Keith passed out the moment he was in the bed.

“You really have to stop scaring us like this, Keith”

Pidge stood in the doorway, her arms crossed as she leaned on the wall.

Lance and Shiro grinned at the girl, while Keith groaned in the hospital bed, his pillow muffling the sound.

“Please don’t. Those two already lectured me. Twice”

Pidge hummed in thought 

“I’ll think about it”

Pidge walked over and was immediately hugged by Shiro. It was always amusing to see such a big guy hug the stuffing out of Pidge, who even after the growth spurt she had experienced when she was seventeen, was still petite.

After shiro let her go, Pidge crawled onto the bed and hugged Keith gently, kissing his cheek

“We’ve missed you, samurai”

Keith beamed at her.

She settled herself on the edge of Keith’s bed and grinned at Lance 

“Hey Lance” her voice was different when she spoke to him, it became more teasing, and maybe even flirtatious 

Lance smiled, his eyes shining.

Keith decided to put a stop to it.

“So how long have you guys been together?”

Pidges smile disappeared, looking at Keith. 

“I-“ her face was reddening. She spun to look at Lance 

“You told them?!”

Lance looked really panicked now. Keith and Shiro shared a mischievous smile.

“It wasn’t me! It was Hunk!”

“You told Hunk?!”

“He’s our best friend!”

“He can’t keep a secret! You know that!”

“Maybe I should come back later”

The couple whirled around, looking at Hunk, who was standing by the door.

“You told Shiro about us?!”

Hunk’s cheeks turned pink.

“He pressured me!”

“That’s not true! I just asked if you knew how Pidge and lance were doing and you screamed ‘lance and Pidge are dating’!”

They stopped arguing when they heard laughter. Keith was clutching his side as he doubled over, laughing hard

“Glad to see we amuse you” Pidge said, although she was grinning. 

“Told you he would fall for you, kiddo” Keith said, still grinning 

Pidge blushed again “Shut up”

“Huh?” Lance looked confused now

“Pidge had a crush on you for the longest time”

“You’re exaggerating” Pidge huffed

“He’s not” Shiro deadpanned 

“You knew too?”

“I think we all knew before you did, Pidge” Shiro said, smiling at the girl

“I cannot believe you guys”

“How did not know about this?” Lance protested. Pidge smiled sweetly at him 

“Because you’re oblivious”

“Thanks a lot, love”

Keith laughed again.

“By the way” Hunk said “Coran says hello, he wanted to come but there was this big meeting thing he couldn’t miss. He told me to tell you” he turned to Keith “that you’re getting a lecture from him very soon about letting yourself be stabbed”

“Great” Keith said, tone flat and heavy with sarcasms “looking forward to it” he then frowned 

“Why  _ are _ you here, anyway?”

Hunk looked offended 

“I heard about what happened and I couldn’t not come. We’re family, man”

Keith lay back in his bed, staring at ceiling with a dopey little smile on his face, listening to his family arguing about silly little things. 

Getting stabbed had been  _ so _ worth it.


	7. On my way home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 9\. Shackled   
Lance is rescued from the galra. The team didn't expect to see him like this.  
Little bit of Klance.  
Post torture.   
T

Lance felt numb. Well no, scratch that, he felt numb everywhere except for his arms. 

His arms were on fire. 

His muscles were screaming with pain, he couldn’t feel his hands, and his wrists were scraped bloody where the shackles were biting into his skin.

It was almost a relief that he felt numb, because he was pretty sure those galra soldiers had beating him up pretty well.

He had a cut on his eyebrow that was steadily dripping blood down the side of his face. 

He was pretty sure his ankle was twisted, and bruises and cuts colored his whole body. 

And he may have a concussion, but he wasn’t sure. 

The door slammed open, and pain erupted in his skull as if he was being kicked repeatedly. Again. 

The light and sound that came from the door, made his vision black out and his ears to ring. On yeah. Definitely a concussion.

“Lance?”

He knew that voice. Shiro.

He could have sobbed with relief. Instead, he groaned. Finally, he was going home. 

The team opened the door and the sight that received them made their blood run cold as they stared in horror.

Lance, without his armour, bloodied and bruised, was hanging suspended by his arms, his toes barely touching the ground.

The shackles were firmly wrapped around his wrists, which were bleeding, making a trail of crimson run down the boy’s arms.

“Oh fuck” said Keith. Shiro didn’t have the energy to correct him. Oh fuck indeed. 

“Lance?” Shiro tried not show the fear in his voice 

“Is he conscious?” Pidge’s voice sounded small and high, sounding more like the child she was than normally.

Lance responded with a groan. 

That kicked Shiro into focus.

“Hunk, guard the door. Make sure no one gets through it. Keith and Pidge, come with me”

The chains were tied on either side of the walls, and Shiro told Keith and Pidge to untie them

“Okay guys, slowly, bring him down, easy does it”

Lance’s feet touched the ground, but his legs wouldn’t hold him up and his knees buckled. 

Shiro surrounded him with his arms, propping him up. 

“We need to keep his arms up, he looks like he’s been suspended for a while”

“Why?” Pidge, ever curious asked 

“You know when you fall asleep on your arm and you feel pins and needles when you wake up?”

“Yeah”

“Multiply the pain by 50”

“Oh”

It was a slow process, getting Lance to lower his arms. 

Keith and Pidge each grabbed one, and slowly massaged the, gently, mindful of the bloody wrists. 

Lance gritted his teeth, trying not to make a sound. His muscles were cramped and stiff from the forced position, add that to the obstruction of blood flow, he was probably a sight to behold.

“Guys, we gotta move!” Hunk called from the doorway, his gun at the ready “we’ve been spotted”

Shiro cursed in something that was definitely not english. He looked at Lance.

The Cuban found that his tongue felt heavy on his own mouth, plus he was pretty sure his jaw was bruised, if not cracked, so speaking wasn’t really an option right now. 

So he looked Shiro in the eye, totally serious for once, and nodded. 

With a pained expression, Shiro told the other two to lower Lance’s arms completely. 

The pain from before had been nothing compare to what he felt now. He couldn’t even move his fingers, his whole body tense like the string of a guitar as what seemed like fire coursed through his veins. 

He choked back a scream as his muscles spasmed, and just buried his face in Shiro’s shoulder, trying to muffle whatever sound might come out of his mouth. 

Shiro just placed a hand on his head and held him, waiting for the initial wave of pain to wear off.

When the burning had gone from pure hell to simple insufferable, Lance exhaled, letting his body go limp. 

A moment later, he was being gathered in Shiro’s arms, too weak to even attempt (and most probably fail) to walk on his own. 

He dimly heard Shiro telling the others to collect his armour, which lay in a messy pile in one corner of the room.

He choked back a broken sob. 

He was going home. 

Now that he was moving, he could feel with horrible accuracy every single bruise and cut, wincing every time Shiro jostled him, which was pretty much always, since he was running. 

He could dimly hear the unmistakable sounds of a battle around him, but the concussion made it difficult to understand what exactly was going on, since one second he heard the sounds as if he was underwater and the next it felt like someone was screaming bloody murder in his ear. 

He didn’t dare open his eyes, too tired to even try, but nonetheless he grabbed onto Shiro as hard as he could, which wasn’t much, given he could barely feel his arms.

They still hurt, but at least he could feel his fingers, even though they were tingling. He wasn’t sure if that was a good sign. 

Something was happening. 

The shouts and blasts were louder than before, making the pain in his head spike. 

Shiro was shouting something, and then he was manhandling Lance into a firefighters carry. He wanted to warn Shiro he was going to throw up if he kept moving him around, but his mouth wouldn’t move. 

The he was being transferred into someone else’s arms, and he desperately tried to hold on to Shiro, but the man gently pried his fingers on, softly saying something that sounded reassuring, but he didn’t understand it. 

The new person was carrying him in a firefighter carry, running as if his life depended on it. 

It probably did. 

The person was thin but strong, his shoulder all pointed ends. 

Keith then.

The sounds disappeared and lance sighed in relief. 

His consciousness was slipping away, bit by bit, he could feel it. 

Keith stopped running, but Lance barely registered it. 

He was being lowered into the floor, sitting propped up against a wall.

“Lance” 

Lance tried to look up, he really did, but his head felt too heavy for his neck.

The Keith prodded at particularly sore spot on the side of his head, probably from a kick from the guard. 

His head snapped up, and he glared at Keith.

But his teammate just looked relieved at seeing him awake. 

“The lions are coming” Keith told him, though he figured this out more by reading his lips than by listening to him. 

“Can you stay awake?”

Nope. 

He tried to shake his head, but the little energy he had left was quickly disappearing, and black spots were dancing in his vision again. 

“Lance!”

His head dropped, but Keith held it up with a careful hand underneath his jaw. 

His indigo eyes were wide with worry and his cheeks were flushed in a way Lance found adorable.

He wanted to say  _ you’re so cute, _ but his body was shutting down quickly. 

Keith scooped him up again and started running once more. 

And then he heard the roar of a lion, and a presence in the back of his head. 

_ We’re coming, my paladin. _

He smiled and closed his eyes, feeling the way Keith’s hair tickled his jaw. 

And then he knew no more. 

  
  



	8. No words needed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 10\. Unconscious   
Rated: T  
Keith whump   
Keith & team, Shiro & team, team as family 
> 
> The paladins of Voltron get captured, which is not unsual, whoever, they start to worry when Keith doesn't wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, this is a long one, but I really enjoyed it and I hope you do too!

Keith really regretted coming here. 

They were currently being surrounded by guards. Big, bear-like guards with spears that crackled with electricity. They had left their bayards and helmets behind, as per request of the king of the ukarians, who assured them that they wouldn’t need them in the castle, which had the best security in the quadrant. Best security to make sure they didn’t scape. 

“Shiro” he muttered through gritted teeth. They stood in a protective circle, all of them tense and ready to fight if necessary. Keith’s whole body was still, ready to jump at any second. 

“What do you want from us?” Shiro asked the king, who looked content sitting in his throne, looking a bit bored but somewhat amused.

“The usual” he said, waving a hand in the air in a lazy manner “the Galra want the lions and the paladins for questioning, bla bla bla, I honestly didn’t listen to the details; but” his eyes gleamed with hunger and malice as he turned his eyes to Pidge “they said I could have one of you for my own entertainment” Pidge growled at him, but Keith could see she had gone pale. The paladins, as one, moved in front of Pidge, both Shiro and Keith, who were closer to the girl, moved their arm as if to block Pidge from harm. 

“You wouldn’t dare” Shiro snarled, looking angrier than Keith had seen him in a while. 

The king raised an eyebrow “no? You underestimate me, paladin. I’m no fool, I know you are powerful, that’s why I have something for you” 

Keith’s nerves tingled and the back of his hairs stood up. Too late he realized that hand gesture hadn’t been a dismissal, it had been a signal. His eyes darted to the guards, and he saw five of them with weird sticks. Tranquilizers. And one of them was already pointing at Shiro. 

Time seemed to slow as the guard placed one of the ends of the stick in his mouth and inhaled, pointing at Shiro’s neck. 

He acted without thinking, as usual. He pushed Shiro out of the way and felt a dull sting in his neck. Immediately, his vision blackened and he heard static. He could hear Shiro shouting his name but it was as if it came from underwater. He realized he was on the ground, looking at the ceiling. There seemed to be a fight occurring around him, but his thoughts were mushing up together and it wasn’t long before he was surrounded by cool darkness. And then he knew no more.

...

Shiro woke up gradually, which he recognized as he had been sedated. The thought triggered a few unpleasant memories, but he pushed them aside as he remembered his team had been with him when he’d gone down. He could see in his mind’s eye Haggar, her cruel smile and bright eyes on him as fire coursed through his body. 

He gritted his teeth.  _ No _ .  _ My team needs me. _

He opened his eyes. 

It was too dark to see clearly, the only source of light a ray of sun that came in through a gap in the door. 

The cell was small and damp, the floor cool against his cheek. His team was sprawled around him, all of them unconscious, although Hunk seemed to be stirring. Automatically, he head counted, and his body went cold when he realized Pidge was gone. 

He tried to stand up, but his body still tingled from the after effects of the tranquilizers. He took a deep breath and sat up, rubbing his hands together to get the feeling back to his flesh hand. 

Once he could move properly, he crawled over to Hunk, who was groaning. 

“Hey” he shook his arm. Hunk frowned, his eyes still closed “Hunk” no response “Pidge is gone”

Hunk’s eyes flew open. He tried to sit up, but lay down again, looking a bit green.

“Give me a minute” he mumbled, closing his eyes. Shiro patted his arm. He went to check on Lance next and found him still unconscious. He patted his cheek a few times, calling his name and he finally stirred. Hunk was by his side by the time Lance sat up, rubbing his face.

“God that sucked” he moaned.

Shiro couldn’t help but agree. He moved over to Keith next, and thought it would be better to just call his name, he might lash out if touched. 

“Keith” he called, frowning when the boy didn’t even twitch. Slowly, he ran a hand through his hair, trying to get a response from him. Nothing. 

In the semi darkness, he studied Keith’s form. 

He was pale, breathing through his mouth. He placed two of his fingers in the side of his neck and found his pulse weak and slow. 

Worry started to creep into his chest. 

“Keith’s not waking up” he told the other two, who were having a conversation in hushed tones. He didn’t look away from Keith, but he sensed the two paladins move to crouch beside him, looking at their fallen teammate. 

“Vitals?” Hunk asked 

“Faint and slow pulse, difficulty breathing and bluish lips ” he checked behind Keith’s eyelids. His eyes were rolled to the back of his head. 

“I’d say it’s an overdose of whatever tranquilizer they gave us” Hunk said

“But then why didn’t it affect us?” Lance wondered

“Maybe it didn’t mix well with his galran DNA?”

“The galra wouldn’t let the ukarians have a weapon that could harm them. They’re allies, remember?”

“Keith pushed me out of the way” he recalled “That dart was meant for me” The two boys fell silent. Shiro hadn’t taken his eyes off Keith’s pale complexion. 

“They wanted to make sure I wouldn’t wake up” 

Hunk snorted “well that was pretty stupid of them, since we know  _ I _ can carry you if necessary”

“Yeah, but I have a weapon they can’t take away from me”

His hand lit up, making the cell glow with purple light. 

Lance sighed “you know, it would be really nice if people would stop double crossing us any chance they get”

“That would be nice, yes” Shiro nodded. Then he looked at his teammates “any plans?”

Lance shrugged “we get out, find Pidge and call their lions to us”

Shiro sighed. He  _ knew _ time was of the essence, Keith needed medical attention and who knows where Pidge was, but going out without a plan? That was just plain stupid.

He made his decision.

“Hunk” he turned to the boy in question “you think you can carry Keith?” 

Hunk rolled his eyes and picked up Keith, slugging him over his shoulder “that’s mildly offensive, Shiro”

Shiro smiled before sobering. 

“I’ll go first, take down any guards we find, Hunk you go in the middle. Lance, cover his back” the boys nodded and Shiro took a breath. 

He punched the steel door with his galran hand.

  
  


It wasn’t too hard to find Pidge. 

They just had to follow the unconscious bodies of the guards. Shiro looked back and saw his teammates grinning

“Classic Pidge” Lance shook his head, grinning. They followed the trail of bodies and found the small girl hacking one of the automatic doors,one of those electric spears on the floor besides her. When she heard their footsteps she tensed and turned, picked up the spear and fell into a battle stance. Her expression went from fierce to shock to delight in less than a second.

“I was heading to the control room to bail you guys out”

“How did you even-?” Shiro started but Pidge beat him to it

“The king didn’t even get to close the door” she scoffed “they didn’t even tie me. Idiots”

Pidge looked at the two figures behind him and frowned 

“What’s wrong with Keith?” 

“Overdosed” 

And as if on cue, Keith started stirring, groaning softly. Hunk knelt down and propped Keith up on the wall. Shiro knelt next to Hunk and placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder 

“Keith? Can you hear us?” Keith made a sound at the back of his throat and muttered 

“‘Tashi?” Surprised by the nickname, Shiro looked at the rest of his teammates, who were all looking at him. He turned back to his friend. 

“Yeah, it’s me, buddy. You okay?”

“Feel sick” his words were slurred and he seemed to have trouble breathing correctly. Shiro looked at Pidge and Lance

“Pidge, see if you can hack into the control room. Lance, keep on the lookout”

Both paladins nodded and went to work. Shiro turned back to Keith

His lips were almost purple and there was a bluish tint to his skin. He mumbled something, but his speech was so slurred he couldn’t make out the words. Suddenly, Keith turned his head and vomited on the floor, making Lance and Pidge turn around and winced at the sight.

“Well” Pidge said “let’s hope a guard slips on it”

That almost made Shiro smile.

A few moments later, the door opened and Pidge whooped quietly 

“Let’s go”

Shiro looked at Hunk, who looked slightly sick himself

“Pidge” the girl turned “spear”

She threw it to him wordlessly and he handed it to Hunk. 

“Cover us. I’ll take Keith” 

Hunk, looking grateful, nodded.

Shiro knelt and picked up Keith in a bridal carry, mindful of his upset stomach. The boy moaned and muttered something. 

“I’m here buddy” he muttered, for only Keith to hear “we’re gonna get you home” 

The trip back wasn’t pleasant. 

They had to kill a few guards, which was never a pleasant experience, and Keith’s condition got worse as time passed. 

They finally got to the lions, well, the lions actually came to them, the red lion destroying anything in her path, knowing her paladin was injured. 

Shiro rode in the red lion, black trailing behind and covering them. 

Hunk and Lance stayed behind, covering the others.

“We’ve got this bossman” Lance had told Shiro. It hadn’t eased the knot in his stomach that had formed just by thinking of leaving them behind 

“Get Keith into a pod” Hunk had said.

And he did. 

By the time they got Keith into a healing pod he was barely breathing, and so was Shiro. His whole body shook with relief when Coran announced that Keith was stable. He sat against the pod, taking deep, shaky breaths, and closed his eyes. He didn’t know how much time passed, but when he opened his eyes again, Pidge was sitting next to him. Her armor was gone, replaced by her usual baggy shorts and T-shirt. 

“Hey” he greeted. He cleared his throat. Why was his voice so raspy?

“Hi” Pidge leaned into his side “How are you doing?” 

“How are  _ you  _ doing?” 

Pidge raised an eyebrow 

“I’m fine, Pidge” 

“Sure you are”

“Answer my question”

Pidge sighed, leaning even more on Shiro

“Adrenaline is wearing off and everything is starting to ache. Happy?”

“Not particularly, no”

He placed an arm around her shoulders 

“You scared me”

“I know” she trembled slightly from what he hoped was an adrenaline crash underneath his arm 

“The others back yet?” He asked. She was about to answer when the doors to the infirmary opened. Lance was leaning against Hunk, both their helmets gone. Their armours looked a bit worse for wear, and Lance was favouring his right leg, but they seemed okay otherwise. 

“How’s Keith?” Lance asked immediately, trying to stand on his own. 

Shiro got up and walked rapidly towards them. 

He didn’t know why he did it. Maybe it was the adrenaline wearing off, maybe it was the stress he had been feeling since he woke up in the cell right until now, seeing his team safe. 

Whatever the case, he hugged them both tightly, feeling dizzy with relief as both of the boys in his arms hugged him back. He felt pressure on his back and wiry arms wrapped around his torso.

They pulled apart, Hunk grabbing Lance around the waist as he tried to stand on his own. The boy rolled his eyes. Pidge eyed Lance’s leg with worry 

“What happened to you?” 

Lance shrugged. His smile was tinted with pain “got hit in the leg and fell”

“His ankle is probably broken” Hunk said. Lance glared at him 

“Sprained” Hunk let go of him, making Lance gasp and blink back tears of pain when his foot touched the ground. Hunk grabbed his arm and placed it around his shoulders again, smiling smugly at his friend. 

“Shut up” Lance said, teeth gritted. Shiro crossed his arms 

“Healing pod. Now” 

“But-“

“You either go willingly, or I’ll have Hunk carry you”

Lance scoffed but complied. As he changed to the white suit behind a curtain by the hospital-like beds, Shiro asked Hunk “where’s Coran?” 

“He’s fixing Yellow’s paw. We took a hit while we were escaping” 

Before Shiro could respond, lance asked 

“How  _ is  _ Keith?” 

“He’s stable” answered Shiro “he’ll get out of the pods tomorrow morning or so” 

“You’re gonna spend the night here, aren’t you?” Hunk said. It wasn’t really a question. Shiro nodded

“Okay, I guess it’s a sleepover” Pidge said from where she was perched on top of the pod Lance was going to use. 

“You guys don’t have to“ Shiro immediately objected.

Lance stuck his head out of the courts in and looked at Pidge “how did you even-?” Pidge winked at him. He looked lost for a moment, before he decided it wasn’t worth it and looked at Shiro.

“Of course we’re gonna wait for Mullet. Do you really think we would be able to sleep in our own rooms?”

Shiro huffed but didn’t respond.

“I’ll get out in the middle of the night anyway. Might as well sleep here afterwards”

So it was decided. 

Once Lance had gotten into the pod, the rest of the team showered and put on their nightclothes. 

Hunk cooked dinner while Pidge and Shiro grabbed comforters, pillows and blankets from everyone’s rooms and placed them in the infirmary, near the pods. 

They ate with Coran and Allura in the dining room, but the atmosphere was dark and brooding. 

Allura mentioned they would have to debrief soon. Pidge noticed how Shiro’s breath hitched as the cool mask he was wearing cracked.

“Tomorrow” she said loudly.

“Sorry?” Allura frowned 

“Tomorrow we’ll debrief, once the whole team is present and we’ve gotten the sleep we need. Right now, we’re gonna finish eating and then we’re going to bed” he stared down Allura who had a knowing look in her eyes 

“Of course” she said “that was stupid of me, sorry”

Hunk smiled behind his glass of water and she didn’t miss how Shiro’s shoulders sagged slightly. Coran, bless him, started telling Hunk that Yellow was fine, and asked Pidge about her latest experiment. Looking at him from the corner of her eye, she saw how Shiro gradually grew more tired. Coran must have noticed too, because he clapped his hands and said

“Alright paladins, I think you deserve a good night’s sleep. Off you go”

Before Shiro could protest, Pidge stood up and grabbed his hand, guiding him towards the door.

“Let’s go, Shiro” 

Hunk placed a hand on their leader’s shoulder as the three of them walked tiredly towards the infirmary.

The three of them laid down on the nest of blankets and pillows, Shiro in between the other two, Pidge curled up in his side, holding one of his arms and Hunk in the other, one arm around his chest.

It didn’t take long for sleep to come for the three of them. 

  
  


It was three a.m when the alarm beeped and Shiro jolted awake. He got up, mindful not to wake the sleeping paladins beside him, and waited for Lance’s pod to open. 

When it did, and a dazed blue paladin got out, he catched him and held him up as the younger boy blinked at his surroundings.

He stood up on his own, but still grabbed at Shiro’s arm.

“The others?” Shiro pointed his head behind him. Lance relaxed as he watched his friends sleeping soundly. 

“Wanna join them?” Shiro asked with a smile. Lance nodded. 

With Shiro’s help, he walked over to the nest and laid down next to Pidge who hummed in approval at the new warmth and pulled the boy closer. He smiled and carded his fingers through her hair as she laid her head on his chest. 

Shiro laid in his previous position and Hunk grabbed his arm as Pidge snuggled into his other side. 

Sleep came incredibly easy for him that night. 

  
  


Morning came faster than any of them would have liked. 

Shiro woke up surrounded by his teammates. Hunk had his arm around his chest, while Pidge was snuggled at his side, her head resting on Lance’s outstretched arm, while the Cuban boy had his legs tangled with his. He dozed for a while, enjoying the feeling of his teammates around him, safe and content. 

Pidge started to wake up as he ran his fingers through her locks absentmindedly, smiling when she hummed in approval. 

She opened her eyes slightly and smiled sleepily at him 

“Hey” she whispered

“Good morning” she close her eyes, more relaxed than he’d seen her in a while.

“Hey” she looked at him “thank you for yesterday. Don’t think I didn’t notice how you got me out of there”

Her cheeks went pink “I barely did anything” 

He kissed the top of her head, surprising her, and held her close, dislodging her from her place next to Lance. She blushed even harder and hid her face in his side. 

“You did. So thank you”

“You’re welcome” she mumbled. He smiled and let her go. 

A few seconds later, Hunk yawned and stretched 

“Morning” he mumbled 

The other two mumbled their good mornings.

“Lance okay?” He yawned again

“‘M fine” Lance mumbled back “sleepy” he added after a few seconds, cuddling into Pidge’s back.

After a few minutes of silence, Shiro said “we  _ should _ get up” everyone groaned. He didn’t want to neither, honestly, but he knew Keith was going to get out of the pod soon and they were all probably hungry. This point was proven by Lance’s stomach, that growled loud enough for all of them to hear. He blushed and admitted “maybe getting up wouldn’t be a bad thing” 

So, Hunk and Pidge went to the kitchen to look for some breakfast. With them came Allura and Coran, the latter coming to check on Keith’s pod. 

“I think one more varga ” he told them. 

Shiro was restless.

He was mad at Keith for taking the hit for him, but at the same time, guilt and worry ate through him. 

He looked at Keith, frowning. 

Something was wrong. 

“Coran? Is everything okay?”

“Sometimes the healing process can cause involuntary brain wave reactions”

Shiro turned around to look at Coran, who was examining something in the tablet that monitored Keith’s vitals.

“He seems to be dreaming” Coran explained 

“Is that normal?” Coran shrugged 

“Sometimes”

Shiro looked at Keith again.

“He’s having a nightmare”

“Are you sure?” Hunk asked. Shiro gave him a look

“Yep, you’re sure” 

Shiro turned to Coran. 

“Can we let him out?”

The man was silent for a few moments

“Yes. The drug is 97% off his system”

“But it’s not dangerous anymore”

“No. A day of bed rest would do the trick”

“Then let him out” 

Coran seemed to hesitate, but then complied.

The doors opened, and the boy inside gasped, opening his eyes but quickly closing them at the harsh light from the infirmary. He collapsed forward and Shiro caught him, like he did every single time he got out of the pod. Keith trembled in his arms, clutching at his nightshirt as if afraid he would disappear. 

Shiro winced as he held him close and lowered them both to the ground. Keith had a very specific way of waking up from a nightmare. If you just shook him awake, he would lash out, like Shiro. He needed to wake up gradually, and falling from a pod was  _ not _ what one would consider gradually. 

“Hey” he whispered into his ear. His voice shook slightly “we’re okay. Everyone’s fine” he took a shaky breath “That was pretty scary, huh?” He wasn’t sure himself if he meant the dream or the last 24 hours.

He felt tears prickle this eyes as he said in a harsh whisper “ _ God _ , Keith don’t scare me like that”

And now he was embracing Keith as tightly as Keith was hugging him, both of them shaking. 

Pidge was the first one who joined the hug, pressing herself into both Keith and Shiro. Shiro was surprised to feel tears dampen his shoulder where Pidge’s face was pressed into. He snuck his arm around her too, kissing the top of her head again, and then for good measure, kissing Keith’s temple too.

Lance and Hunk joined then, and no words were needed.


	9. Feelings and how to deal with them, by Keith Kogane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 11\. Stitches & 12. "don't move"  
Klance  
Keith/Lance   
Rating: k   
When Keith gets hurt while training, Lance helps him heal, and not just physically.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first Klance fic! So excited! tell me what you guys think in the comments please

Keith stumbled his way to the corridor leading to the infirmary, gripping his side to avoid dripping blood all over the floor. The last thing he wanted to do was leave a trail and worry his already overprotective teammates. And boyfriend.

Boyfriend. 

It still felt weird just thinking about it. 

He and Lance had started their relationship just a week ago, and honestly, it scared Keith a little bit. Lance didn’t seem to mind taking things slow, even though it was clear he wouldn’t mind going a little faster. That was one of the reasons he liked Lance so much, he was always patient with him.

“Hey there, Mullet” 

Speak of the devil and he would appear. The nicknames hadn’t changed, Keith thought with amusement, only they were occasionally accompanied by ‘baby’ or ‘babe’.

Keith cursed internally when the cut stung as he gripped it tighter. 

“What takes you to the infirmary?” Lance fell into step beside him

“Nothing” he said, a little too quickly. 

Lance studied him quickly before his eyes fell on the hand clasping at his side, the fingers tinged with red.

Lance’s face fell.

“Please don’t tell me that’s blood”

“It’s… not?”

Lance gave him a deadpanned look

“You’re impossible” and then he sighed, making Keith feel guilty, as if he had disappointed Lance. 

Damn feelings. 

“Come on” his boyfriend grabbed his unoccupied hand and lead him to the inside of the infirmary.

Keith sat down in one of the medical beds without a word as Lance rummaged through a cupboard, trying to find the first aid kit. 

“What happened this time?” Keith considered lying for a second, but he knew lance would probably see right through him. He was annoyingly good at that.

“I tried a higher level of the gladiator. It didn’t hold back”

Lance hummed as he returned. 

“Is it serious?”

“I don’t think so”

Lance kneeled in front of him and told Keith to take off his shirt.

Keith obeyed, letting Lance touch the injury, wincing and trying not to squirm. It had stopped bleeding, but it still stung.

“It’ll need stitches… but I don’t think it’s pod worthy”

They continued in silence, Lance cleaning and disinfecting the cut.

“Painkiller?”

Keith shook his head. He knew full well what the “painkiller” did. It never failed to leave him nauseous, drowsy and disconnected from the world, all at the same time. 

“Okay then” he rubbed his hands and grabbed the needle and thread.

“Hold still, alright?”

Keith nodded.

What followed were ten minutes of pain and frustration for both Lance and Keith. 

“Jesus Keith,  _ Don’t move _ ” 

Keith kept flinching and moving away, which made Lance’s job quite difficult. 

“Sorry” 

Lance sighed and dropped the needle

“You know, this would be a lot easier if you’d just take a painkiller. You would barely feel a thing”

Keith shook his head fervently 

“Why not?”

He wasn’t quite sure why he didn’t want to tell Lance. 

He hated the stuff, but the others didn’t seem to mind it. He had a hunch why it affected them differently, but didn’t want to voice it. 

It would be yet one more prove of the fact that he wasn’t like them, that he was different. 

He hadn’t realized he had spaced out until Lance called him.

“Babe?”

He shook out of his trance and looked at Lance

“Sorry” He automatically responded.

“Why don’t you like the painkillers?”

“They-“ he hesitated “they don’t work for me. I mean they do, but they- they leave me drowsy and nauseous” he wouldn’t meet Lance’s eyes.

_ Why was this so hard? _

Understanding flooded Lance’s face, followed by guilt.

“We’re idiots. Of course they would work different for you. Okay, hold on, just let me…”

He trailed off, walking away from Keith and typing something in one of the computers. 

He kept muttering to himself things only he could understand as the machine next to the computer hummed. 

He walked back to Keith’s side, smiling. 

“It’ll take a few minutes, but I think I did it right”

“What’d you do?”

“Well, Coran explained it to me while we were doing a check up on the different logs. That over there is the machine which gives us all of the medicine we use. I just had to insert the painkiller formula and tweak it a little so it would work both for humans and galra, simple”

Keith stared incredulously at his boyfriend

“And you did the calculations by yourself?”

“I’m good with numbers” 

Keith scoffed 

“That’s not being good with numbers, Lance, that’s being fucking amazing”

Lance blushed but didn’t say anything, a thankful, and maybe a little hopeful smile lighting up his features. A few moments later he frowned 

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

Keith went right back to staring at his boots. 

Lance stayed silent, waiting.

“I don’t know. I just didn’t want to be different, I guess”

“You guess?”

Keith stayed silent. Lance grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

“You  _ are _ different, Keith. Half of you is another species. But you know what?”

Keith met his gaze 

“We don’t care.  _ I  _ don’t care. You’re still human, and we love you for being you. You’re  _ our _ half space cat”

Keith snorted at that and squeezed Lance’s hand back. At the gesture Lance beamed.

The computer beeped, making Keith jump and then curse when it pulled at his cut. 

Lance walked away, opening the box-like machine next to the computer and grabbing a pill that lay in the center of it.

“Alright, this should work”

“And if it doesn’t?” Keith asked, ever cautious. Lance shrugged.

“You’ll feel the pain, and maybe a little bit sleepy”

Keith shrugged and dry swallowed the pill that was offered to him 

“I trust you”

It was worth it to see Lance’s blushing. 

It took a minute, but he could feel the pain lessening, turning into a dull ache, and then nothing. 

“The pain is gone”

Lance’s eyes shined with satisfaction as he grabbed the needle again.

It went much more smoothly this time, Lance stitching the skin together with ease. They were done in 20 minutes. 

“Alright. That should do it” 

As Lance stood up and went to retrieve the kit, Keith grabbed his hand, preventing him from walking away. 

“Hey, Lance”

Lance looked at him “Yeah?”

Keith leaned forward and kissed him briefly, his heart beating fast. 

“Thank you. For everything”

Lance smiled at him, a soft smile that made something in Keith squirm in delight. He realized that was the first time he, Keith, had kissed Lance. It wasn’t a horrible thought. 

Lance leaned forward and kissed his cheek. 

“You’re very welcome, baby”

Lance retrieved the kit and put it back in place.

He then took off his hoodie and gave to Keith. 

“C’mon, Shiro will freak out if he sees that cut”

Keith put it on, and promptly decided that Lance wasn’t getting this back for quite some time. 

“Thanks”

He grabbed his hand again, and they left the infirmary, Keith feeling much lighter than he had come in. He wasn’t sure if it was the drug, Lance, or the fact that he wasn’t bleeding anymore. 

Did it really matter?


	10. The adrenaline pumping through my veins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 13\. Adrenaline   
Keith & Kolivan   
Rating: T for blood, although it's not mentioned a lot 
> 
> Keith gets hurt on a mission with the blades, and Kolivan swears the boy is going to give him a heart attack one of these days. Human biology is strange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dads of marmora is one of my favourite things ever

Kolivan stood in the comms room of the ship, tense, as he always was, while he waited for the team of blades to make contact. 

He wished they wouldn’t, because it meant someone was in trouble, and he despised leaving any of his blades behind.

A few minutes later, the reason for his dread became a reality.

“Sir” the Blade that was sitting in front of the computers turned to him “a comm is trying to establish a connection. It seems to be Keith’s”

“Let him through”

The comm opened, but no one spoke.

“Keith? Status report. Did you get the intel?”

A moment passed

“Huh? Oh hey, Kolivan” 

His voice was clear, but there was something clearly wrong. 

“Did you get the intel” Kolivan repeated.

“Oh yeah… but I think there’s something wrong. You see, I’m sitting in a pool of blood”

“Is it… your blood?”

“I think so”

“Well, where is it coming from?”

“The stab wound?”

“ _ You were stabbed?!” _

A grunt.

“Oh yeah, definitely”

Kolivan might have- well, not  _ laughed _ , maybe smiled- at the slightly comical conversation, but he was too worried to even think about it. 

“Sir, the blades need to get here in 6 doboshes, we won’t be able to wait longer”

Kolivan nodded in understanding.

“Keith, can you get to the meeting place on time?”

He expected Keith to say no, and he could already see the paladins’ faces when he told them that Keith had not made it back.

“Yeah… I think so”

Kolivan’s eyes widened in shock

“What?”

Keith grunted in response, and in his mind’s eye he could see Keith, struggling to stand up, surrounded by blood, and promptly falling down again.

But it didn’t happen.

Through the comms, it sounded as if Keith was running, panting 

“I’m on my way”

Kolivan stood, stunned, as the other blades opened the comms too, reporting that they were on they’re way.

The other blades ran in 4 doboshes left, giving the galra controlling the comms the chips that contained the intel. 

“2 doboshes left” 

Kolivan’s heart sank. Keith wasn’t going to make it. 

“I’m coming” came in Keith’s exhausted voice.

One dobosh.

30 ticks.

10 ticks.

The doors started closing, and the saw a figure, not exactly running towards them, more like stumbling rapidly.

The other blades stood tense around him, waiting for the smallest blade.

He made it. 

With a tick to spare, Keith slipped through the doors as they closed, and a few of his comrades sagged in relief. Kolivan didn’t have the luxury to look relieved. He was their commander, he couldn’t show emotional attachment.

Keith’s mask disappeared. He met Kolivan’s eyes and gave him a bloody grin. He walked past him, using him for a moment as support, leaving a bloody handprint. 

He staggered to the officer who stood by the comms, leaving a trail of blood on the floor, and handed him the chips.

Once he’d done that, he turned, looking at them all. 

His side was bleeding heavily.

“Right…” he swayed on the spot “I’m gonna need a trip to the infirm-“

He collapsed forwards, but Kolivan had been ready for it. 

He caught him and lowered him gently to the floor, pressing his hands on the gaping hole on his right side. 

“Call headquarters!” He barked to no one in particular “make sure they have a medical team ready”

Regris, a young blade that, if he remembered correctly, had become a good friend of Keith’s, crouched beside him, a towel in his hands that was more effective at stopping the bleeding than his hands. 

It was soaked within ticks. 

Two days later, Kolivan was informed that Keith had finally woken up, and that we would be ready to go out into the field within a movement, two, if Kolivan had anything to say about it. And he did.

He walked to the infirmary, finding Keith propped up in one of the beds, pale, but otherwise alright.

Keith gave him a faint smile, too tired to do more than that. 

“Thank you for saving my life, sir” Kolivan scoffed, choosing to remain standing a few steps away from the bed. He knew Keith didn’t like it when people towered over him.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you saved yourself”

Keith shrugged.

“About that… there’s something I wanted to ask you”

“Yes, sir?”

“Just  _ how  _ did you manage to come back? You were hurt badly, but yet you managed to run back”

Keith shrugged, as if it were unimportant 

“Adrenaline was still going strong, but I could feel it wearing off when I was almost to the ship”

“What is this adrenaline you speak of?”

Keith’s eyes widened 

“You guys don’t have that? But I’ve seen galra get hurt and still fight”

“Galra are strong species, it is difficult to injure us fatally”

“Huh” Keith didn’t speak more for a few moments, seeming to be lost in thought.

“Adrenaline” he finally said “is a… drug you might say, that our brains release when we’re in danger, that helps us to fight even when we’re hurt. We’re a bit more fragile than galra, you could say”

Kolivan’s eyes widened, but schooled his face into a more neutral expression when it made Keith smile in amusement. 

“Humans are… strange creatures” he sighed, running a hand through his face. 

The more he learned about humans, the more bizarre they seemed. 

“I have to get going” Keith nodded 

Kolivan mentally hesitated, before he reached out and patted the smallest blade’s head, which seemed to amuse Keith.

“Rest, little blade”

Keith, for once in his life, obeyed. 


	11. hold on a little longer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 14\. Tear stained  
Keith & Shiro  
Rating: G  
Missing scene from S1E1 where Shiro wakes up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is my best one yet. Tell me what you think in the comments :D

Keith was a ticking time bomb.

That’s what he felt like at least. They had laid Shiro down on the old worn couch of his shack, where he had been living for the past year.

The other three cadets were talking in awed whispers, and he heard words like his name, Shiro’s, the Garrison, and something called ‘voltron’.

As the adrenaline wore off, as his heart stopped beating so fast, he could feel the wave of incoming emotions, like one would feel a tsunami coming. 

Shiro was back. He wasn’t dead. 

_ Shiro was back. _

He couldn’t take it. He wasn’t going to break in front of them.

He wouldn’t allow it.

“OUT!” He roared at the teens, pointing at the door. 

The tall one -Lance, he remembered- raised an eyebrow at him

“Excuse me?”

He pushed the three of them towards the door, and they went, more out of shock than anything.

“What are we supposed to do here?” Lance asked, his voice shrill.

“I don’t know” he ran a hand through his hair, feeling the tears behind his eyes “scout the perimeter, make sure no one followed us. Just- give me 15 minutes”

Lance was about to protest when the smallest one -he reminded him of someone- grabbed his arm to stop him. He looked at Keith, his honey colored eyes calculating 

“We’ll give you 20” 

Then he turned and walked away, dragging Lance along with him. The big one hesitated before following. 

Keith sighed and closed the door, swallowing to try to get rid of the lump of his throat. 

_ Shiro was back. He was alive. _

He all but ran to the man on the couch. 

He fell to his knees besides him, studying him for a few seconds.

He had an undercut, and his bangs were white for some reason. He had grown more muscular, maybe grown an inch. 

But the thing that caught his eye was the arm. 

Black and smooth, probably made out of metal. Alien for sure. 

He had barely touched it, had only laid a finger on it, when Shiro opened his eyes wide. Keith blinked, and suddenly his arm was in a death grip, and he was staring into cold grey eyes. 

He stood, petrified, as Shiro looked at him. He didn’t recognize him. 

And then, as if someone had whispered the answer into Shiro’s ear, his eyes widened, and the pressure in his arm disappear. 

“Keith?” 

The pressure behind his eyes grew, but he refused to give in. 

“Whe-where am I? What happened?”

Keith was afraid to speak, but Shiro deserved some answers. 

“You’re in my shack, not far from the Garrison. You fell from the sky in some sort of spaceship. Don’t you remember?”

Shiro sat up fully, grabbing his head with both hands 

“I-“ his eyes widened. He looked at Keith, and something in the look he was giving him scared Keith.

“It’s been a year and a half” he continued, his voice cracking at the end. Dammit.

Now the words were tumbling out of his mouth, with no way to stop them.

“They told us you were dead. I didn’t want to believe it but-“ he choked on his breath.

He didn’t dare touch Shiro, but he wanted to, desperately. When was the last time he had been hugged? Touched kindly by a human being?

Something in Shiro’s eyes changed, as if he could feel Keith’s heartache.

He grabbed his arm again, gently this time, and pulled Keith in, holding him gently, telling him without words that he could push away if he wanted to. 

Keith didn’t. Instead, he hugged Shiro with all of his strength. 

A sob escaped his chest, and it was a like a the bomb inside his chest had exploded. 

He let the tears fall, sobs racketing his body as he trembled in Shiro’s arms. 

He buried his face on his shoulder, soaking up the feeling of Shiro being  _ right there.  _

Shiro didn’t say anything, just rocked them back and forward as he let Keith cry his heart out on him. He was shaking too, burying his face on the younger boy’s black hair. 

“I missed you so much” 

Shiro’s voice was hoarse, and the tears that fell were silent, unlike Keith’s, who wasn’t holding back,  _ couldn’t  _ hold back anymore, not after almost  _ two years  _ of solitude and grief.

“I never believed them” Keith sobbed almost desperately, his words muffled by Shiro’s prison clothes “not once”

“I wouldn’t have hold it against you if you had” Shiro’s laugh was small and lacking any sort of amusement “it  _ felt _ like I had died and gone to hell”

_ Never again.  _ Keith thought angrily.  _ You’ll never get away from me again.  _

After a few moments, Keith thought about letting go, since he was on his knees, his body arched in order to get to Shiro, and his joints were starting to complain. 

But the thing was, he really didn’t want to. 

20 minutes, the smallest boy(?) had said? 

He wasn’t going to waste a second then. 


	12. The stories carved on our bodies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 15\. Scars.   
Rating: G  
Lance & Lance’s family, Shiro & Curtis, Keith & Krolia, Pidge & Colleen.  
The team’s loved ones see their scars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was interesting to make, and I’m really sorry I couldn’t do Hunk, because I love his character so much.

Mrs. McClain first saw Lance’s scars when her family decided to enjoy an afternoon in their house’s swimming pool. 

Sylvio and Nadia kept pushing Lance towards the pool

“C’mon uncle Lance! It’s been  _ forever  _ since you’ve played with us”

He laughed, letting the children drag him towards the pool.

“I play with you guys every day” he said. The two children ignored him. 

Lance sighed dramatically but took his shirt off nonetheless, wearing nothing but his swimming shorts. 

All conversation stopped as his siblings and parents stared at him with poorly concealed sadness. 

He looked down. 

Oh.

None of them had ever seen Lance’s scars, the painful reminder of where he had been, what he had done. 

He blushed, rubbing the back of his neck self consciously as the silence stretched on. 

Sylvio and Nadia looked around, confused. 

And then the tension broke when Rachel shouted 

“Looking good Lance!” 

Marco followed

“Damn, little brother, what did they feed you up there?”

Lance blushed even harder as Veronica whistled.

The scars weren’t the only thing that had changed. His shoulders were broader, his muscles more defined. 

“Shut up” he grumbled

“Uncle Laaaaaance”

“I’m going, I’m going”

He scooped up the two kids effortlessly, jumping into the pool with them on his arms. 

His nephew and niece squealed with laughter as they tried to get away from their uncle. 

The rest watched, a little sadly, as they scanned the scars that littered Lance’s back and chest.

Lance spent half an hour with the children until he passed babysitting duty to Luis, and went to check on his mom. 

He hadn’t missed the tears that had sprung to her eyes when she’d seen. 

“Hey mamá” he said softly, kissing her forehead. 

She smiled at him, but the smiled disappeared as she traced a white line that went from Lance’s clavicle to the middle of his chest. He grabbed her hand, preventing her from tracing any other of the lines that whispered a story about pain.

“I’m fine, mamá” 

She nodded, taking a deep breath. 

She grabbed his cheeks and kissed his forehead. 

“I’m so proud of you, mijo” 

Lance smiled sadly “I know”

The lay down in the beach chairs, Mrs. McClain grabbing his son’s hand and rubbing his knuckles with her thumb. 

Yes, he would be just fine. 

  
  


Pidge had missed her mom so much these past two years. 

She had missed their movie nights, her laughter, her hugs…

But the thing was, she had somehow forgotten just how stubborn her mother was, just like her.

“I’m not doing it!”

“It won’t kill you to wear a dress, Katie” her mother snapped impatiently “you used to wear them all the time”

“Okay, first of all, it’s been three years since I wore a dress because I enjoyed it, second, it’s not wearing dresses I don’t enjoy, it’s  _ this _ particular dress”

The dress they were arguing about was laying innocently on Pidge’s bed. It was a pretty green cocktail dress, with no sleeves and with the back exposed. 

That was the problem. 

“Well I don’t get it” Colleen said, crossing her arms “I think it’s cute”

Pidge laughed, but there was no humor in her voice 

“It  _ is  _ cute mom, I really like it. But I can’t wear it” 

“Well why not?”

Pidge scoffed. Colleen swore he had seen frustrated tears on her daughter's eyes before she turned around and took of her shirt. 

Colleen immediately cursed herself. Of course. 

The upper side of Pidge’s back was covered in scars. 

She had always had freckles on her arms and torso, but now these were covered by white lines, some thin, some looking like burns. They weren’t pretty, that was for sure, but they could be worse. So much worse. Thank god God for those cryopods Katie had told her about. 

_ I should have realized,  _ she thought, scolding herself.

“Oh sweetie” she whispered.

Pidge put on her shirt again, looking embarrassed but her eyes were dry. 

“I’m not ashamed” she said quickly “I just-“ 

“It’s been a hard few years, huh?”

Katie finally looked up, looking shocked for a moment. Then, biting her lip, she nodded. 

Colleen grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her close, kissing her head. Katie held on just as tightly.

After a minute, Colleen pulled away.

“Okay then, you can wear the tux if you prefer it,  _ but _ ” she looked at her daughter in the eyes “you should now, Katie, you don’t have to hide them. Those scars are proof of what you’ve done for the universe, and you should be proud”

Pidge nodded, staying silent for a few moments, pondering.

“I think… I’ll wear the tux for Shiro’s wedding” she smiled weakly at her mom. She smiled 

“That’s fine, sweetheart”

She beamed.

  
  


Krolia swallowed thickly when she first saw Keith’s scars. 

The worst ones where long and wide, particularly the one on his right shoulder and one across his back. 

The ones that scared her the most were the ones that looked old, too old to come from his adventures as a paladin or a blade. 

That night, as they both sat against the wall of their cave, Keith dropped his head onto her shoulder, exhausted by that day’s training. 

Krolia felt him go limp bit by bit, until she was sure she had fallen asleep. 

She kissed his forehead, thinking about the flash of the future they had seen that day, and the scar that the future Keith had had on his cheek. 

She rubbed her thumb over that spot softly, promising herself that she would do all she could to prepare him for the fight that was inevitable to come. 

  
  


Shiro loved Curtis. 

He realized this one day, as the man laughed at something Lance had said, his cheeks flushed as he looked at Shiro, still smiling.

It made him happy.

It made him feel guilty.

He knew it wasn’t logical, Adam would want him to move on, to live a happy life, but it still felt like he was betraying his late love. 

He supposed the reason he had been attracted to Curtis in the first place was because he was new. 

He hadn’t known Shiro before Kerberos, so he could be sure that he loved Shiro for the man he was now, not the Garrison’s perfect boy.

The first time Curtis had seen the scars that covered his entire body, speaking of horrors he couldn’t even remember, he hadn’t said anything. He also hadn’t looked at Shiro with pity, or sadness, and Shiro loved him for it. 

Instead, he had kissed the scar on Shiro’s nose, and the proceeded to kiss ever other scar on his body. 

They had both turned late for work that day. 


	13. We take care of our own

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 16\. Pinned down, 17. “Stay with me” & 18. “Muffled scream”  
Rating: T  
Pidge & Shiro, Pidge & team, Shiro & team.  
Basically the boys being worried about their little sister when she gets hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was fun to write! I love making the boys worry about Pidge. Comments always appreciated! :)

The earthquake trapped them inside the abandoned galran warehouse. Hunk, Keith and Lance were thrown to the ground, bits and pieces of ceiling falling and hitting their raised shields. 

Shiro and Pidge weren’t so lucky. 

There were at the other, more unstable part of the warehouse when the earthquake hit basically the entire ceiling fell right above them. By some miracle, Shiro, mostly unhurt, managed to dig himself out rather quickly. But his satisfaction was quickly dampened when he saw the giant pillar that separated him from Pidge’s last known location.

He barely remembered a shout of pain and a grunt when the ceiling had caved in, but he hadn’t registered until now. 

“Pidge?” Silence. His heart sank.

He got up and ran to the place he had last seen the girl, climbing the huge pillar. From the top of the structure, he could see the entire room. He took his helmet off, since it was covered in dust. No sign of her.

“Pidge?!” He couldn’t keep the worry off his voice 

“C’mon Katie, talk to me”

“Ughhhmmm” the sound had come from his right. 

He jumped to the floor and started digging where he thought the sound had come from. 

A hand. He kept digging. 

He found her head and chest. Her visor was broken, and there was a bleeding cut above her eyebrow. A large block of metal was pinning her from the waist down. 

Despite everything, she grinned weakly at him 

“Hey” relief washed away most of the tension in his shoulders as he grinned back

“Hey yourself” she wrinkled her nose

“‘Feel weird” she closed her eyes “m’ head hurts”

“Let’s get that helmet off” 

He managed to lift her head and get it off. He was relieved to see that there wasn’t any blood, but she was ghostly pale and her left pupil was bigger than her right. So definitely concussed then. 

“Can you feel your legs?”

After a second, she nodded and winced “they hurt”

After a few minutes where Shiro was debiting how to proceed she closed her eyes

“Good night”

“You can’t fall asleep”

She opened her eyes and glared “but I’m tired. And you’re always telling me to go to sleep”

Leave it to Pidge to find a semi-logical argument even when concussed.

“I know but you have a head wound”

“Don’t care. Night”

“Pidge” when she didn’t respond, his voice hardened “open your eyes” he winced internally. That came out a bit louder than he meant. It worked though, even if she did look scared. Shiro took a deep breath.

“I’m going to lift the debris off your legs, okay? As soon as you can, I need you to crawl away”

She shook her head “it hurts”

He brushed her bangs from her eyes

“I know. But we’re going to get you home, and then straight into a cryopod”

“You can’t do anything straight”

Ignoring the comment, he grabbed his helmet and opened the comms

“Guys? Is everyone okay?”

“Shiro!” Keith sounded so relieved Shiro guessed they had been calling him for a while now 

“We’re all fine” Hunk sounded tired, but otherwise okay.

“The bad news is we lost connection to the castle when the ceiling fell. The good news is that we’ve found an exit”

“Good, because we’re gonna need an extraction” the comms exploded with voices

“Are you okay?”

“Where’s Pidge?”

“We’re on our way, Shiro”

“It’s Pidge” he looked at the girl in question, who was now saying something under her breath, too slurred to make sense “she has a head injury and I think one of her legs is broken, if not both”

“Stay there Shiro” Keith sounded like he was running “We’ll get the lions and bring them to your location”

“Copy that”

He left the helmet on the floor and kneeled next to Pidge 

“Ready?”

She blinked owlishly at him

“For what?”

“Your legs are pinned down. Do you remember the plan?”

She thought for a second before her face lit up with realization 

“That’s right! Okay I’m ready”

He put his hands underneath the debris and prepared himself to pull.

“Alright kiddo, on three. One… two… three!”

Heart hammering on his chest, he began to lift the metal. He grunted, it was heavier than he had anticipated. He could actually hear the mechanisms in his arm working double time to support the weight.

The metal groaned and started to shift, and Pidge groaned with it.

“C’mon Pidge” he grunted, urging the girl to move 

Pidge started whimpering, trying to crawl backwards. 

The moment she was out, Shiro let the debris go and it fell with a clang. He stood where he was for a moment, panting. 

“Sh’ro” 

That got him moving. He ran to her side, falling to his knees as he registered the yet to fall tears and the heavy panting while her gloved hand clutched at her ribs.

“Hurts” she had her eyes shut and his own trailed to her left ankle, which was twisted in an awkward angle. He tore his eyes away from it

“Ribs?”

“Bruised, I think. I dunno. I think I’m gonna throw up”

Just then the parts of the ceiling that my some miracle hadn’t fallen yet shook, along with the floor. Shiro mentally scolded himself for not expecting an aftershock. He shielded the small girl’s body with his own, but only pebbles and small rocks fell on him. 

“I’m gonna get you out of here, alright? I’m going to pick you up now”

Pidge shook her head violently, but Shiro scooped her up in his arms.

She bit on her hand to try to muffle the scream that left her throat, but it still made shiro wince.

“I’m so sorry, Katie. Just stay with me for a little longer, Alright?” 

She didn’t respond. She just continued crying, shaking as she waited for the pain in her ribs and ankle to stop.

He picked up his helmet, and after getting most of the dust off his visor, put it on.

“Guys?” 

“We’re here” Keith immediately responded. 

“I have Pidge. Probably broken ribs and a broken ankle. Where’s the exit?”

As if on cue, there was an explosion at their right. Pidge whimpered at the sound, and Shiro hated that the only thing he could do was place a comforting hand on her head.

“Did you hear that?” Lance asked 

“Please tell me that was you guys” Shiro pleaded 

“Yep. I think one more of those blasts and the wall will break. You guys get ready to get out as soon as it’s down.”

“Roger that” 

They were out in less than two minutes. 

The green lion roared, and all of the paladins felt a wave of relief pour over them. Pidge smiled against Shiro’s shoulder. 

The three boys ran to their side, looking worried as they studied their teammates conditions.

“You should have told us you were bleeding too” Keith crossed his arms. 

Shiro’s eyes widened, he touched the side of his head and felt something sticky and warm on his glove. 

“I honestly didn’t realize” he said truthfully. Keith glared at him, but didn’t respond.

“Let’s just get Pidge home” Hunk said. Shiro nodded

They agreed that Shiro and Pidge would ride on the red lion, since she was the fastest, while black and green would follow them.

Shiro lay Pidge down on the emergency bed on Red’s back room. 

She squirmed, trying to get a bit more comfortable, but quickly stopped when her ribs protested. 

Shiro grabbed one of the emergency water bottles and a rag. He wet the rag and whipped the side of Pidge’s faces that was covered in blood. She smiled weakly

“You know the pods clean the blood” it wasn’t a question. 

“I know. But you were freaking me out” 

She huffed out a laugh, wincing immediately after. 

“Lance’s right” she muttered, her words coming out slurred again, “you’re such a dad”

Shiro rolled his eyes fondly 

“I need to take the chest plate off”

She gave him the stink eye, which made him want to laugh, but he tried to keep a straight face.

Three of her ribs were fractured, and four were bruised was what he could tell by touching them. 

He grabbed his helmet and called Keith. 

“Is there something wrong?” Keith asked quickly. 

“Can Red fly to the castle without you? I need you here”

A strange presence on his mind and a phantom pain on his cheek, as if something had slapped him (a tail by the feel of it), told him what he needed to know.

“She’s offended that you think she can’t”

“I know” he rubbing rubbing his cheek. He could’ve sworn he heard a roar-like laugh. 

“I’m coming” 

Keith appeared three seconds later, walking over to Pidge. 

He muttered something shiro didn’t catch, and Pidge mumbled something back that made Keith smirk and ruffle her hair. 

“I’m going to need you to hold her down as I reset her ankle”

The smile slid off Keith’s face. Instead, a steely determination replaced it, and he nodded. 

Before the started, Keith grabbed a clean rag and told Pidge to bite it. Looking confused, Pidge obeyed. 

Shiro took a deep breath and started trying to take off her boot. 

It was a slow process, in which Pidge kept whimpering and twitching involuntarily, the sounds that left her throat muffled by the rag. 

Keith stood beside her, one hand grabbing her hand and squeezing, the other holding her good leg to prevent her from kicking involuntarily. 

Once the boot was out, Keith dropped her hand and put an arm over her shoulders and chest.

Shiro’s hands were tingling as he grabbed the foot gingerly. 

He looked at Keith, and they younger boy nodded. Pidge looked like she was about to doze off. 

Shiro took a deep breath.

The ankle snapped.

Pidge screamed into the rag.

The green lion roared in their heads.

  
  


Getting her to the to the cryopod was a piece of cake after that. 

The four paladins stood still for a moment, watching Pidge’s frozen expression. 

And then the tension broke when Keith grabbed Shiro by the arm and lead him to one of the medical beds.

“Keith…” 

But the boy was hearing none of it. 

He pushed Shiro until he sat down and glared at him when he opened his mouth. 

He then started cleaning the bleeding cut on the side of his head. 

It wasn’t bleeding that badly, he tried to tell them, but Lance and Hunk seemed to agree with Keith, because Hunk had a hand on his shoulder to prevent him from moving. 

When Keith finished, no one moved. 

Shiro could feel himself crashing, could feel his hands trembling as he looked at them. 

They were tinted with red.

Keith sighed, sat next to Shiro, and pressed the side of his head against his un injured one.

Hunk, who sat on his right, squeezed his shoulder, and Lance, who had noticed how he was looking at his trembling hands, held them in his own. 

Slowly, the adrenaline faded, and tiredness seeped in. 

He took a deep breath, and let himself enjoy this moment of peace.

His team was safe.

That’s all he needed for now.

  
  



	14. Just breathe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 19\. Asphyxiation   
Lance and Shiro get into trouble. Lance takes the brunt of it   
Shiro & Lance   
Rated T

“You’re going to tell me where your ship is, and you’re going to tell me now” 

Shiro only glared at their captor, his mind running, trying to find a way out of this mess.

Lance and he didn’t even have his armour on, how could he had been so stupid?

When their captor, a grey alien with an exoskeleton and beady, hungry eyes, smiled at them pleasantly Shiro  _ knew _ they were in trouble.

“Alright then” he crooned, his eyes dropping to Lance “Let’s see if you’re as soft as people say” 

And then, quicker than his body should had been able to go, he grabbed Lance by the neck, lifting him up into the air. 

Lance made a surprised sound and choked when his airway was constricted. 

Shiro stiffened, frozen in his kneeled position. 

“Now” the alien said, smiling yellow, razor sharp teeth “care to tell me where your ship is?”

Shiro growled at him, his eyes altering from Lance to their captor.

The Cuban boy was clawing at the hand holding his throat. His legs twitched as choking sounds left his throat. 

Shiro looked around frantically, his heart beating fast and loud on his chest as he tried to find something,  _ anything _ , that could help them escape. 

They were in a clearing in the forest, behind him, a river flowed. The ground was muddy and slippery, and most importantly, the lions sat at least a kilometer away, along with the rest of the team. 

No one would hear them.

_ Shit _ . 

Shiro looked at Lance desperately, and he found fear in the blue eyes, but also determination. 

He couldn’t tell him where the lions were, he  _ couldn’t _ . Lance wouldn’t forgive him. 

Shiro’s desperation grew as Lance’s face went a light shade of blue, and his attempts grew more feeble and weak.

The alien arched an eyebrow 

“No? Alright then” he walked to the riverbank, and dropped Lance into the water “guess there’s no use for this one then” 

To Shiro’s steadily growing horror, Lance didn’t resurface, and only little bubbles came up. 

Something in Shiro snapped.

His metallic hand grew hot, hotter than he had ever felt it before.

The cuffs that were holding his hands together behind his back snapped in two. The alien’s beady eyes opened wide.

“What the-“ 

He didn’t even have time to finished the sentence. 

Shiro lounged at him, hand at the ready, and the metal one, still active, penetrated the exoskeleton as if it were molten plastic. 

The alien froze, his face stuck on a surprised expression, before he toppled forwards, into the river. 

Blue liquid started to rise and get carried away by the river flow. Blood.

Shiro stood, panting for a second, before he realized. 

Lance. 

Without thinking, he dove into the water, his hand, which was still activated, sizzling at the contact with the liquid. 

The water was cold, cold enough it took him by surprise, and the murky water made it difficult for him to see. 

The river wasn’t deep, maybe three meters, enough to drown someone. 

He scanned the depths, desperate to find him before he ran out of air. 

A hand appeared, almost like magic, in front of him. 

He grabbed it. 

He thought he saw the corpse of their captor not too far away, but he didn’t waste a second. He grabbed Lance by the waist and started swimming upwards, his lungs starting to burn from the lack of oxygen. 

He broke the surface, gasping as he made sure Lance’s face was above the water. The boy didn’t even twitch. 

He swam to the river’s side, and wasted no time in dragging Lance’s limp body into dry land. 

He looked at him for a few seconds, scanning for injuries. 

He’s face was deathly pale, looking almost grey in the sunlight, and he had a cut on his eyebrow from when they had been captured, but it had mostly stopped bleeding. His neck was red, bruises that looked like fingerprints already forming. He prayed that the alien hadn’t crushed his windpipe. 

But most importantly, his chest wasn’t moving, he couldn’t feel a heartbeat. 

“No” dread was feeling his entire body, making him feel numb and cold. He couldn’t let lance die. He couldn’t. 

He had made a promise to protect these kids, he couldn’t break that promise. 

He wouldn’t.

He positioned himself on top of Lance, his knees hitting the ground on either side of Lance’s sides. 

He started applying CPR, counting. His compressions were a bit erratic, but panic was building pressure on his throat and chest, and he couldn’t think about anything else except for the young boy who was counting on him to bring him back. 

He reached thirty, pinched Lance’s nose, and pressed his lips against his, blowing air into his lungs.

He did two more rounds. His arms were growing tired and he was gasping for breath, but he didn’t dare stop.

And then Lance’s eyes opened, and he lurched to one side and started throwing up more water that Shiro thought was even possible to swallow.

He scrambled to get off Lance and helped him sit up so that it was easier to breathe.

When Lance finished, he gasped for breath, and his arms which were supporting part of his weight gave out. 

Shiro snaked an arm around his heaving chest to prevent him from falling face first into the puddle of sick and pulled him close to his side.

The boy went limp and leaned into Shiro’s chest, gulping in breaths. 

Shiro rubbed his back, dizzy with relief himself. God, that had been one of the scariest moments in his life.

Lance gasped again and tried to sit up straight. He went to stand up before Shiro grabbed him around the waist and restrained him, fearing he would fall if he stood up

“Easy kiddo” he rubbed his shoulder “just breathe. We’re okay”

“The… guy?” He gasped out.

“Gone” He said simply. Lance nodded shakily and leaned against his chest again.

“That was…” he gasped out

“Don’t speak, alright? Just breathe, Lance” 

Lance nodded shakily again.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, enough for Lance’s breathing to ease up and Shiro’s heartbeat to return to normal. 

“How you feeling, kiddo?”

“Cold” He said, and Shiro could feel him shaking “and tired” 

“We should probably start walking back” Shiro didn’t want to, but he got up and extended a hand to help Lance up. 

Lance stumbled for a second a supported himself by landing a hand on Shiro’s shoulder. 

“You sure you’ll be fine?”

Lance nodded, even though the little color that had returned to his face had banished again. 

“Okay then” 

Shiro walked slowly, letting Lance lean on him for support. 

A few minutes of this, he could see Lance’s legs shaking. 

“Lance, climb on my back”

“Huh?”

“You can barely walk, bud. We’ll reach the ship faster”

Lance looked at him for a second, before Shiro got down on one knee. 

His cheeks pink, lance climbed onto his back, wrapping his legs around his waist. 

Shiro got up and started walking.

“Sorry” Lance muttered, resting his cheek on his shoulder 

“You’re not a bother, Lance” he said, tone soft “besides” he bounced “you’re not that heavy” 

Lance snorted “I resent that”

“Of course you do” 

They continued walking in silence

“Hey, Shiro?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks. For everything”

“You’re welcome, kiddo”

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I'm sorry I keep forgetting to post. Life is so so crazy right now and I just feel like I'm being stretched too thin, you know?  
I hope you like this


	15. How to save a life. part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 20\. Trembling   
Keith remembers an unpleasant experience while captured with hunk.  
Warning: flashback, panic attack, referenced child abuse   
Rating: T  
Hunk & Keith

They were dragging him towards a door. It wavered in and out of focus, the guard holding him had hit him with his blaster pretty hard in the head. He was surprised he wasn’t bleeding.

Hunk struggled behind him, but he could barely hear him. 

A guard opened the door, and he saw a small room, so small he doubted the two of them would fit in comfortably. 

He sucked in a harsh breath, as for a second, the door turned into that closet, where he would scream and cry for help. His foster father would come again after ten minutes, and when he left Keith wouldn’t make a sound again. It always made it worse. 

He was suddenly being shoved into the small room (calling it a room was generous), hitting the wall as another body was shoved in after him.

The door closed, and they were left in darkness, the only sliver of light coming from the little space between the floor and the door.

The only sounds for a few seconds were their breathing, and Keith was afraid of speaking, afraid of seeing the shadow of the man in the crack of light. 

“Keith?” 

The boy jumped, his head brushing the ceiling and suddenly he needed to get  _ out _ , he needed to escape, to run, to  _ hide _ .

“How’s the head?”

_ What?  _

“What?” 

“Your head” Hunk talked slowly, as if speaking to a confused ten year old “you got hit pretty hard” 

“Oh. I’m fine”

He was not fine. It hurt, it was pulsing along with his heart, and he felt like he couldn’t focus properly.

Even though Keith was pressed to the wall, Hunk was inches away from him. If he opened his arms wide, his fingertips could touch the opposite walls. Hunk’s head brushed the ceiling. 

They were going to suffocate, there was no way there was enough air for the two of them. 

“Keith?”

He willed himself not to jump this time, but he flinched violently when a hand landed of his shoulder.

“Are you okay?” 

No, of course he wasn’t okay. He was dying goddammit, couldn’t Hunk feel the air getting thinner?

“I uh-“ he swallowed thickly, feeling droplets of sweat running down his back. He shuddered.

“I don’t do well in small spaces” he swallowed thickly as he felt his throat close up “ _ at all”  _ his voice cracked at the last word

“Alright, that’s uhhh… unexpected” Keith couldn’t tell Hunk was nervous too. 

“But it’s fine. We’re gonna be fine, man. Shiro and the rest of the team is coming”

“Shiro?”

“Yeah that’s right”

Keith nodded, even through a small part of him, the very small part that wasn’t panicking, told him that Hunk couldn’t see him. 

And then he saw a shadow cover the light from the crack. 

And suddenly he couldn’t breathe. 

The only reason Hunk wasn’t panicking was because he knew the others were on their way. 

That and because he was too busy trying to get Keith to calm down. 

It hadn’t started badly, just a shudder here and there and a small gasp or audible shallow. 

But then what he guessed was a sentry had come to guard the door to the their cell (although calling it a cell was generous).

Now he was gasping in shallow breaths, and trembling like a leaf under his hand. 

“Keith? What’s wrong?”

The older boy didn’t seem to hear him. 

He continued to gasp as if something were constricting his lungs and at the sound of his voice, he flinched so hard his hands had gone up to cover his head, as if protecting himself. 

Hunk could barely see his face, but he knew he was deathly pale.

“Keith, we’re going to be fine”

“Sh-Shut up”

Hunk, surprised (and trying very hard not to feel hurt), ignored this order 

“What? Why?”

“S-shut u-up!” 

He was trembling so bad now his teeth were chattering, and his arms surrounded his chest as if he were cold

“He’ll hear us” he gasped out. He was close to hyperventilating.

Hunk’s heart sunk, well no, scratch that; it was crushed into a million pieces as he realized what was going on. 

Shiro acted like this sometimes, he sometimes saw things the others couldn’t see, things from his past.

Keith was having a flashback. And Hunk wanted to throw up just by thinking what it was about. 

It wasn’t a secret that Keith had a complicated (and painful) past, but none of them except Shiro truly knew what had happened to Keith in his childhood.

“Keith” he whispered, grabbing the boy by both shoulders. Was he always so small?

“We’re in a galra ship. They captured us. You have a head injury, remember?”

Mind, their real situation wasn’t ideal, but by the sound of it, it was less scary than what Keith was seeing. 

He continued to murmur this, and for a few moments he thought it was working, until he heard a crash outside their cell. 

Keith seemed to melt. He dropped to his knees and grabbed his head, shaking so much Hunk was afraid he might hit his head on the wall. 

The was barely enough space, but Hunk managed to crouch down too, muttering reassurances and praying that the sounds coming from outside were from the other paladins. 

And sure enough, he heard Shiro’s voice, calling his and Keith’s names. 

Wincing, Hunk grabbed Keith and hugged him for a second, covering his ears.

“We’re here!” He shouted. Keith only sobbed.

A minute hadn’t passed before Shiro was opening the door, and light made Hunk’s eyes water. 

By Shiro’s face, they must had been a sight to behold. 

He looked at Keith, and almost did cry when he saw his teammate, his friend, white as a sheet, tears streaming down his cheeks, clutching his hair, his eyes wide and pupils contracted as he stared off into the floor, not really seeing it. 

Shiro had that look on his face, that look that said that he wanted to break down, but wasn’t allowed to just yet. 

“He has a head injury” Hunk said, just to end the silence. He noticed Lance was behind Shiro, looking at Keith in shock “and then they threw us in here and he freaked out” 

Shiro knelt next to Keith 

“Hey kiddo”

His voice was softer than Hunk had ever heard it. Keith looked up, looking so painfully  _ young _ with his big indigo eyes, which seemed amplified by the tears. 

“Shiro?”

Shiro smiled, a little proud, a little sad

“Yeah, bud. We’re getting you out of here” Keith gasped out another sob

“He-“

“He’s not here” Shiro said firmly, cutting in “He’s far away, and you’ll never see him again. We’re in a galra ship, we need to get back home”

Keith looked at him for a moment, and Hunk could see the exact moment when Keith realized what had just happened.

So he took Shiro’s outstretched hand and the older boy pulled him up. 

Keith looked at Hunk, who was still crouching on the floor. 

“Hunk?”

Hunk smiled up at him “in the flesh” 

Keith looked confused, but nevertheless he followed the rest of them to the lions, not once letting go of Shiro’s hand. 

There was silence when Keith’s pod closed. 

A weary, painful silence that no one dared to break, as Shiro sighed and ran a hand through his face, looking much older than he should look. 

When the others left, Hunk approached Shiro slowly, as if he were walking towards a scared animal. 

“Shiro?”

Shiro only hummed 

“What was that?”

They both knew what he was talking about.

“That is something only Keith can tell you, Hunk” 

Hunk sat beside him in one of the medical beds. Shiro sounded tired. 

They stayed silent for a few minutes.

“You should ask him” Shiro finally said. It took Hunk so by surprise he only said

“Huh?”

“Maybe he’ll open up to you. He likes you, probably more than you realize”

“Really?” Hunk felt something warm in his chest. Shiro nodded and smiled 

“Maybe I will” 

“Good”

“Hey, Shiro?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for getting us out of there”

Shiro huffed out a laugh and clapped Hunk’s shoulder 

“It’s my job to keep you guys safe, you don’t have to thank me” 

“Still, thanks ”

“You’re welcome, kiddo”

Hunk promised himself this wouldn’t happen again. 

Next time, he’d be ready, he would pull Keith out of whatever memory haunted him.

Because that’s what family did, they helped each other.


	16. Let it be quiet once more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 21\. Laced drink  
Keith drinks something he shouldn't have, and now he and his team have to deal with the consequences   
Keith & team   
Rating: T

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is my favourite one

Keith knew he shouldn’t have drank the glass. 

He knew it. It had smelled bad to begin with, and it tasted even worse when he downed it. 

But the aliens with who they were negotiating had looked offended when he had refused, and he had promised Allura he would behave. 

He was really regretting it now.

It started with the sound. 

The music (or what these guys called music anyway) hadn’t been loud at first, but ten minutes after drinking his beverage it had started growing louder, until it was uncomfortably so. 

He tried to ignore it. The rest of the team seemed to be having fun and he didn’t want to ruin that. 

Later, he would wish he had.

Next it was the light. 

His eyes grew steadily more sore as the afternoon wore on, until even looking at the ground made him squint and grind his teeth, trying to block the light. Why was the sun growing brighter? 

At this, he started to seriously consider telling Shiro, but he stopped himself. Shiro was busy, he didn’t have time for him. He was eighteen years old, he could handle a little headache. 

A big headache. 

A really big one. He couldn’t remember the last time it had hurt so bad. It pulsed along with the music, which was now unbearable. 

He could hear every person in the party as if they were shouting in his ears. 

And that smell. It was too much at once, he could smell the sickeningly sweet aroma of the flowers, the smell from the food made him want to hurl. 

Stumbling, he left the safe shade in one of the corners of the garden and went to look for Shiro. Everything was too bright, too loud, too colorful. His head hurt,  _ why wouldn’t his head stop hurting _ ?

He could have sobbed with relief when he saw the figure of Shiro, tall and muscular in comparison to the small and gangly aliens he was talking to. 

He was 10 meters away from his brother when three aliens blocked his path. They were all carrying a glass of the damned drink, Keith could tell by the way they reeked of the smell. 

“What wrong, paladin?” One of them asked, not with kindness, more like curiosity. He had the feeling he knew them from somewhere, but he wasn’t sure why.

Keith's knees were shaking. Had he felt this hot before? He didn’t think so. 

He shivered when icy sweat ran down his spine. 

“I uhhh” his tongue suddenly felt too big for his mouth “I need to get to Shiro”

“Why?” 

Why wouldn’t these guys stopped shouting? Why wouldn’t anyone stop shouting?

_ It hurt _ . He felt like his eardrums were going to burst. 

Actually, he hoped they would burst, because that meant he wouldn’t be able to hear anything. 

And just as Keith was half way into considering punching his way to Shiro, his brother appeared, as if he had been able to sense his discomfort. 

“Keith?” 

_ Could they please lower their voices?  _ God, now even his thoughts were loud.

“What’s wrong?”

His knees buckled and he pitched forwards, slumping into Shiro’s chest. 

The armour felt pleasantly cool against his burning cheek, and he didn’t even realized his eyes had closed until Shiro was slinging his arm around his shoulders, helping him stay upright. 

He was saying something, but everything was too much. 

He screwed his eyes shut, but even then the light bore into his eyes, making his headache even worse. He could feel tears starting to gather up in the corner of his eyes. 

He pushed away the body that was manhandling him into a standing position, and fell to his knees, pushing his hands against his ears as hard as he could, but the noise was still too much. He tried breathing through his mouth, but even then he could taste the smells. It made his stomach churn, and throwing up suddenly became a very real possibility. 

Someone was calling his name, he was sure of it, but he didn’t want to look up. 

Was he screaming? Maybe, but he couldn’t really hear it. His throat felt sore.

God if he could just stop  _ hurting _ -

And then he was being scooped up into someone’s arms, and he thought he recognized the voice. 

Shiro. 

Without thinking his arms surrounded Shiro’s neck, but as soon as he did, noise exploded and he let out a cry of pain. 

He could feel more than actually hear Shiro’s voice vibrate through his chest, and after a few seconds someone was placing something (a helmet?) in his head. 

He could have (and he thought he might have) cried with relief when the noise finally stopped. 

All at once, the tension in his body left, leaving him exhausted and limp in Shiro’s hold. 

He still wouldn’t open his eyes, because it still felt as if someone was stabbing him repeatedly, but he would take what he could get. 

He was reduced to a gasping, shivering mess, and he didn’t even have the energy to feel embarrassed about the was his older brother was cradling him against his chest. 

Then Shiro started walking, and Keith was pulled into an uneasy doze.

He startled awake when Shiro sat him down in something soft. A medical bed, probably. 

God, he felt awful. 

And then someone took his helmet off, and the pain started all over again. 

The noise wasn’t like before, thankfully, but it was still painful. 

The buzzing and humming of the machines in the infirmary made his head spin.

If he thought the light had been painful before, it was nothing compared to now. 

It was blinding white, and he couldn’t see, like someone had turned the lighting feature to 100% while editing an image. 

The smell was like someone had placed cotton balls soaked with rubbing alcohol under his nose.

All of this in less than a second. Keith thought he was going to throw up. 

His stomach churned. 

Scratch that, he  _ was _ going to throw up. 

Blinded by the bright light, he let instinct and memory guide him to a bathroom, and sure enough, he found himself in front of the toilet, the lights off. 

He didn’t have time to feel relieved, as he felt bile rise up his throat. 

The drink tasted even worse coming up. 

He didn’t know when, but a hand had begun rubbing his back between his shoulder blades, and he shivered at the cold sensation. 

He could hear someone whispering, and whimpered when it made his headache spike once more. 

The whispering stopped, and for a moment the only thing he could hear was his own gasping breath and his heartbeat.

And then bile rose up again, and he dived for the toilet once more. 

He didn’t know how much time he spent hugging the toilet, but it was enough for Pidge to come up with a solution.

He sat on the floor, resting against Shiro’s chest, panting and trembling, when Pidge walked into the dark bathroom and kneeled in front of him. 

He could see her even though it was pitch black, but he could tell she couldn’t see him, so he reached out and grabbed her hand.

She grabbed his jaw with one hand, and with another placed something into his ear, like a bug. 

The noise stopped somewhat, and then she placed another one in the other ear. 

The noise stopped completely.

This time he did sob with relief. Shiro rubbed his shoulder and pulled him closer

“Thanks Pidge” his voice sounded hoarse, and he wondered for a second how much he had screamed without realizing. 

She smiled at him, a bit sadly, but mostly relieved, caressed his cheek, uncharacteristically gentle, and rubbed away a few tears with her thumb. 

Keith closed his eyes and leaned into her touch.

“So what happened to me?”

His voice still sounded thick and hoarse, but steadier.

He sat on one of the medical cots, earpieces firmly in and wearing modified sunglasses.

His amour was lying in a pile on the floor, and his team stood all around him, arms crossed and concerned and somber expressions on his faces.

He still felt shaky and weak, and the smell of the infirmary hadn’t subsided, making him feel dizzy and nauseous. 

Allura and Coran looked at each other.

“Well, you see” Coran started, wringing his hands “the beverage you drank had senseweed in it, or SW, as it’s known in the black market”

“What’s that?” Pidge asked

“It’s a Well-known drug, that when dissolved into a drink, causes alterations in the senses. I have never tried it myself, but it’s said to be quite pleasant-”

Keith arched an eyebrow, pulling the blanket around his shoulders closer to himself 

“- But lethal to galra. Zarkon banned it when he came to power”

Oh.  _ Oh. _

“But I didn’t die” he said quickly, his face heating up when he felt his team’s eyes on him “It  _ felt _ like I was dying, but-“

“That’s because you’re only half galra” Allura said. Keith noticed she looked quite pale herself

“The effects on a full galra are much worse. They are either driven to insanity, or die from heart failure”

“Oh” was Keith’s only response.

“Keith” Shiro spoke for the first time, and Keith could feel the waves of anger coming from his brother 

“Who gave you that drink?”

Keith thought about it for a few seconds, and then he realized

“The three aliens, the ones that were with me when I collapsed. I was looking for you when they appeared with more glasses” he wrinkled his nose at the memory of the smell “they didn’t seem concerned, just… curious”

A somber silence filled the room.

Keith looked around desperately 

“But I’m okay” he said as he saw Shiro’s face darken “Shiro-“

But the leader was already turning around and walking out of the room.

Keith stood up and went to follow, but his knees buckled, and Lance caught him just in time, slinging his arm around his shoulders.

The nausea came back full force, but he forced himself to swallow it down.

Shiro looked back, looking at Keith’s desperate eyes, which looked darker with the glasses. His eyes softened 

“Get some rest, Keith. I’ll be back soon”

“Lance” Pidge turned to the boy, who was helping Keith sit down again.

Lance turned to look at her 

“Go with Shiro, make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid”

Lance nodded and ran after Shiro.

Silence followed their departure.

“Number one’s right, Keith” Coran said kindly “you need to sleep this off”

Keith nodded, not looking at him.

Hunk helped him up and guided him towards the lounge. Pidge grabbed his hand and followed them.

The ended up making a tent in the middle of the room. 

They got in, and made themselves comfortable around the various cushions and blankets.

Keith moaned in delight as he flopped down and lay still. He could hear Hunk and Pidge chuckling behind him, and he smiled slightly.

“Lights 0 percent” Pidge said, and Keith sighed in relief when he saw pitch black.

“Do you want to take off the glasses? It’s pitch black” Hunk asked to his right. 

Keith nodded, but realized they couldn’t see him

“Yeah” 

Hunk’s hands found his cheeks and reached behind his right ear. 

He pushed a small button, and the glasses turned off. 

Immediately, he blinked as his eyes watered slightly. The was barely any light, but he could still see Hunk’s and Pidge’s silhouettes.

“You okay?” Pidge’s form moved.

“Yeah”

“How are you feeling?” He could feels her eyes on him 

Keith thought about it for a second 

“Tired” he finally said “and dizzy, I guess. It’s like my center of gravity keeps changing” 

“Side effect from the drug, I guess”

“And mentally?” Hunk’s voice was soft.

“I’ll be fine” Hunk didn’t miss the future tense

“Yeah, you will be” Keith swallowed thickly

“I’m just…” his voice trailed off

“Shiro will be fine” Pidge said, and she sounded gentler than normal “he’s got Lance with him, and he knows how to control himself”

“Right” Keith forced himself to breathe “I just wish he was here”

He felt like he was on a rocking boat, and he didn’t really like the feeling.

“It was scary, man” Hunk said into the silence. 

“Yeah” Pidge agreed 

“You were trembling on the floor, screaming and begging to make it stop” 

Keith said nothing.

“And then Hunk here calibrated the helmet so no sound came in and you just went completely limp. I was kinda afraid you had passed out” 

Keith hummed, not bothering to respond.

“I just wished I had known that the light was bothering you too” Hunk muttered, jawning 

“It doesn’t matter” Keith said “I passed out not long after anyway” 

Hunk and Pidge said nothing. 

A few minutes later, he fell into an uneasy sleep.

He woke up when he could feel the other two entering the tent. 

His over sensitive nose recognized Shiro’s smell, and his heartbeat immediately slowed. There was just something awfully comforting about Shiro’s smell, like a child who slept with their parent’s clothing when they were away. 

He could see Shiro, even though it was still pitch black, as he lay down beside him.

“Hey” How did Shiro always know when he was awake? 

“What happened?”

Shiro sighed and ran a hand through his face.

“They caught the guys. Apparently, they wanted to see the effects of the drug on a half galra” his fist clenched “they didn’t even look sorry. They just wanted to know about any side effects”

Keith was afraid of the next question 

“And what did you do?”

“I punched them” 

“All three?”

“Yep” 

Keith sighed in relief. 

“I wasn’t going to kill them, kiddo” Shiro was whispering now, trying to make their conversation private 

“I thought about it, I  _ wanted _ to” he confessed “but I knew you would have been upset” 

“Good” Keith didn’t have any more energy to say much else.

So he curled up like a cat next to Shiro and closed his eyes again, feeling already the pull of sleep. 

Shiro surrounded his chest with his flesh arm and pulled him closer. 

It didn’t take them long to fall asleep after that.


	17. What home feels like

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 22\. Hallucinations  
The team escape capture with a little more than just physical wounds   
Team as family   
Rated: K

The paladins of Voltron looked like scared teenagers.

They  _ were _ teenagers, so young Shiro sometimes felt angry that they had to fight in a war, that he was leading a team of  _ child soldiers.  _

But today they  _ looked _ like teens. Today, they weren’t the paladins of Voltron, they were lonely kids away from home. 

He scanned the room.

Lance was looking at the floor, hunched over with a sober look on his face. From time to time, his face would crumble as tears would spring to his eyes. He would shake his head and continue like nothing had happened. 

Hunk wasn’t moving at all, and was just covering his face with his hands.

Pidge’s face was blotchy and her eyes were bloodshot, but had stopped crying. 

And Keith just sat there, leaning into the sofa with his eyes closed, almost as if he were sleeping. 

Shiro ran a hand through his hair

“Guys” he called, they all looked at him “we have to talk about what happened”

Lance smiled humorlessly “there’s nothing to talk about” he said “we were captured and led to believe we were home, and then you woke us up and reality punched us in the face”

His voice shook slightly at the end.

No one spoke. 

And as Shiro opened his mouth to say something, Pidge scoffed and rubbed her eyes 

“Look at us, the mighty paladins of Voltron, falling to pieces because of some hallucinations” she barked out a laugh “We’re pathetic”

Shiro sprang up from his seat so fast everyone looked at him in shock.

“No” his voice was hard and even “I want you to listen to me very carefully” he lowered his tone, making it sound almost threatening. Lance and Hunk looked a bit scared but he didn’t care, he needed them to understand. 

He met everyone’s eyes one by one before speaking. 

“What happened today, those hallucinations, they’re psychological torture” he ran a hand through his hair again, suddenly nervous “I’ve seen it before, when I was a prisoner. I don’t know how they do it, but they make you see the people you want to see the most. Then those people ask you questions, regarding the information the galra want from you. If you still don’t answer them, the hallucination changes, and you see the people getting tortured” his expression darkened “I’ve seen the toughest aliens crying and pleading as they ‘see’ their loved ones tortured”

Silence filled the room. Finally, Pidge broke it 

“Have they ever used it on you? Is that why you were able to wake up?”

Shiro shook his head with a wry smile 

“No. They made me see my grandfather... and Adam” Keith, who was looking at the ground again, looked at him briefly, but quickly looked away when Shiro caught his eye.

“My grandfather was the one who raised me. He died shortly after I graduated from the Garrison”

Pidge looked down at her lap

“Oh”

More silence as they all lost themselves in their thoughts.

Shiro allowed this for a few minutes before he spoke again.

“We need to talk about it”

“Why?” He wasn’t surprised when he saw Keith tense up, already defensive. Shiro glared right back

“Because it’s important. Because we have been tortured today and I’d be one shitty leader if I let you walk out of here without talking about it” he looked around the room “now… who’s going to start?”

Silence again, and this time it lasted a few minutes. Until…

“You all saw my reaction” Pidge huffed. Shiro was surprised, he had expected Pidge to be second-to-last, Keith being the obvious last. 

“I was crying until we reached the lions. I saw Matt, and my dad, and mom” she didn’t say anything for a few moments “is it wrong that I wanted to stay there? That I wanted to believe it was real?”

“No” Lance told her. He looked like he wanted to reach out and hug her, but looked scared about the reaction. He met Shiro’s eye, asking, and Shiro nodded subtly. Lance put an arm around Pidge. She leaned into him.

“I left my mom alone” she said, and her voice sounded unusually high “she doesn’t know if I’m alive. I told myself that I was doing the right thing when I ran away, but-“ her voice broke

“You feel guilty” Lance finished. She nodded, a few tears running down her cheeks.

“Katie” Pidge looked up, looking at Shiro with big honey eyes, which seemed amplified by the tears.

“We’re going to find your family. And when we do,  _ because we will,  _ you’re going to get them home, and you’re going to give your mom the biggest hug and apologize. And you’ll probably be grounded for the rest of your life” he said the last phrase quickly, and smiled when it made her laugh.

“Yeah” she agreed, rubbing her eye.

It wasn’t a perfect fix, Shiro told himself, but at least she had gotten it out of her chest. 

When she didn’t speak anymore, Shiro looked at the three boys.

And this time it was Hunk who spoke up.

He looked pale, and his eyes were widened with horror.

“I was telling my parents about voltron” he said, and Shiro’s heart sank.

“How much?” 

“I was telling them about you when you woke me up”

Shiro nodded, exhaling slowly 

“They already know a lot about me, I doubt they learnt much”

“I’m so sorry” 

His eyes were filled with tears, and he looked like he was going to be sick.

“It’s okay, Hunk” Shiro smiled at him “you didn’t do any harm”

“I knew there was something off, I could feel it” His voice was unusually husky now, and he was staring at the floor, as if transfixed.

“Hunk. Look at me”

He did, and a few tears escaped his red eyes. 

“You have great instincts, Hunk.  _ Listen to them.  _ Something doesn’t feel right? You come tell me, or whoever you are with at the moment. Your gut hasn’t failed us yet” 

Hunk nodded, sending his way a small but truthful smile. 

Shiro gave Hunk a few moments to add something, and when he didn’t, he turned to the youngest of the boys

“Lance?”

Shiro had been surprised when Lance hadn’t been first to share, as he usually was. Now he looked more like Keith, defensive and closed off.

“I’ve already told” he said, crossing his arms “I thought I was home, and reality punched me in the face”

“You miss your home” 

Lance nodded curtly, and then flicked away a tear like it was a pesky fly.

“It doesn’t matter” 

“It does matter, Lance”

“It  _ doesn’t.  _ Being homesick won’t defeat Zarkon, and I’ve already bothered you all with this before-“

“You’re not a bother, Lance” Shiro cut him off. Lance hung his head but didn’t respond. 

There was silence for a few moments.

“The thing about leaving a home…” Shiro looked at Keith, eyes wide. Keith continued, not looking away from Lance “is that the only way to quell homesickness is to find people that become home”

Lance went to speak, looking doubtful

“Take it from a kid who’s been in the system since he was eight”

The smirk that he sent Lance was gentle, not at all like he’s usual ones. 

“Does it ever stop?” His voice was hoarse 

“Not completely” Keith didn’t hesitate. 

Lance seemed thankful Keith had told the truth, and smiled at him. 

“I saw my dad” Keith said, leaning back and closing his eyes “big surprise there, he’s the only one I miss”

“Hey, Keith?” Pidge seemed hesitant. Keith hummed in question 

“Do you ever miss earth?” 

Keith opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, thinking about it

“Sometimes. I miss sunsets, and my hoverbike, and my shack” he glanced at Pidge and smiled “but like I said, you guys  _ are  _ my home” 

Everyone smiled, and Shiro felt pride rising in his chest. 

He remembered the lonely, angry kid he had met, and marveled at the young man that sat in front of him. 

“Shiro?” 

Shiro jumped a bit, looking at Pidge 

“What?”

“You need to say something too” Shiro frowned

“I already said” 

“That didn’t count”

Shiro thought about it. 

He couldn’t deny seeing Adam had made his heart ache, like an old wound in bad weather. 

“I made peace with my grandfather’s death a long time ago, but I guess it hurt seeing Adam again, so happy to see me”

It was Lance who spoke this time 

“Do you still love him?”

“I… Yeah” he said softly “I do” he scoffed “but I doubt he would take me back even if he hadn’t found someone else. I messed up”

“Yeah you did” 

Shiro turned to look at Keith.

“When you disappeared, we stuck together for a while” he huffed out a laugh “we either cursed you to oblivion or we’d praise you like a fallen hero”

He smiled, and then it faltered 

“God, we were so hurt” 

He looked at shiro, his eyes hard

“I don’t know if he’ll take you back, but I can promise you, he loved you even when you left”

Shiro smiled at him, a little sadly, but a little hopeful too.

“Thank you, Keith”

He looked around at his team.

The guilty, the sorry, the hurt and the mourning.

But he also saw something else in their expressions, the strange sort of peace that you get when you’re surrounded by loved ones.

By family.

And shiro knew he had done well today.

…

A bonus for Keith’s b-day:

They all lingered in the lounge room that night after dinner, instead of going to their bedrooms as usual. 

Every time Shiro brought up going to bed, they would all try to ignore the comments. 

Finally, the conversation drifted off, leaving a tense silence. 

Shiro sighed.  _ Teenagers  _

“Alright” he called “who wants to stay here tonight?"

They all raised their hands.

10 minutes later, they were all laying down in the middle of the circle the couched formed. 

They lay in their usual places: Shiro sandwiched between Keith and Pidge, Hunk in pidges other side, and Lance next to Keith, although this particular combination usually ended in bickering, and the two boys sulking as they were hit with multiple pillows. 

Not tonight though.

Tonight they were all pleasantly dozing, maybe a little closer than they usually were, but no one pointed it out.

Pidge’s clocked bipped, signaling midnight. 

Shiro turned to his side

“Hey, Keith?”

“Yeah?” He mumbled 

“Happy birthday kiddo” he muttered, dropping a kiss on his head. 

Keith's eyes opened

“Oh. Right”

They looked at each other before Keith huffed out a laugh 

“I can’t believe you remembered”

“I can’t believe you forgot”

“Shut uuuupppp” Pidge moaned 

“It’s Keith’s birthday” Shiro said. Keith groaned and buried his face on his pillow.

Pidge immediately sat up, wide awake. 

“Whoa, really?”

“Why didn’t you tell, Mullet?” Lance whacked Keith’s shoulder 

“I forgot” he mumbled, still buried underneath his pillow.

“Tomorrow- or later today I suppose- I’ll make those cookies you like so much” Hunk said.

That got Keith to abandon his hiding place. 

He looked at Hunk hopefully

“Really?”

Hunk was weak to those big indigo eyes 

“Of course” 

He beamed at him, his whole face lighting up. 

“We should all go raid Coran’s alcohol stash” Lance said “I know for a fact that he has more than nunvill in there”

“Absolutely not” Shiro spoke up, voice hard 

“You’re no fun” Lance pouted. Keith snickered, feeling warm inside.

Silence followed, only broken by

“Happy birthday, Keith”

“Happy birthday, man”

“Happy b-day, buddy” 

Keith grinned

“Thanks guys”

…

“You know, tomorrow I could cut your mullet, it’d be my birthday present to-“

“GOOD NIGHT LANCE”

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having a horrible week. Any comments are welcome. Please?  
For anyone who's wondering, I posted this on tumblr October 23th, that's why there's a bonus


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 23\. Hidden injuries   
Part 2 of the trembling prompt. Hunk and Keith talk about his trauma.  
The same warnings from that other story. Nothing explicit, it's all very loosely explained, but still  
Rating: T  
Hunk & Keith

Keith, Hunk had noticed, didn’t like to admit he was hurt, both physically and mentally. 

It was subtle with things like a limp from sparring, or a comment from Lance that hit right on the mark. 

It was way more obvious when he had a concussion and refused any help from anyone, even Shiro.

Or when he had panic attacks.

It had been three days since the ‘closet incident’, and Keith would barely look at Hunk, scared, Hunk knew, of being confronted about it. 

So Hunk let it go. 

He made a batch of cookies he knew the half galra loved, and offered them to him as a peace offering of sorts. 

Keith had accepted them with a small smile and a thanks, and that had been that. 

A month later everything went to shit. 

The thing about this particular mission: it was risky. 

All missions were risky, but this one particularly. So, they had invented a system. 

If things went to shit (which they did), they needed to find somewhere to hide, and wait until they heard three beeps from their helmets, which meant that the threat was gone and it was safe to get to their lions. 

Hunk and Keith found themselves running from a group of sentries, trying to find somewhere to hide in the base. 

And then Keith spotted it. 

A door disguised as a panel on the wall. He recognized it because he had found similar doors when exploring the castle of Lions. 

So he grabbed Hunk’s arm and dragged him to the panel. 

He placed the palm of his hand in the middle of the panel, and it opened to reveal a small room, a very small room, a cleaning closet by the looks of it.

Keith looked back desperately and saw the shadow of the sentries by the corner.

Cursing, he dragged Hunk into the room. The walls were covered with shelves of guns and those electric sticks the galra seemed to love, along with cleaning supplies, which seemed a strange combination.

The panel closed, and for a moment, the only sounds were their gasping breaths.

There was a dull, purple glow coming from the ceiling, so they could see each other’s faces. 

Keith was starting to panic. 

Oh no.

Hunk could tell he was trying not to, but his breaths were starting to get stuck on his throat, and he could see beads of sweat had appeared on his forehead. 

“Keith” he kept his voice low and steady. 

Keith’s attemption snapped to him.

He soften his gaze “We’re not stuck, were just waiting for a signal, alright? No one can hurt us”

Keith nodded and swallowed thickly.

“Keith… are you claustrophobic?”

The question was stupid, of course he was, but he couldn’t of anything else to try and distract the smaller teen. It worked though.

Keith stopped fidgeting so much, frowning as he thought about it. 

“I-I guess? I don’t mind if it’s small but it has a window or something… It’s only places that remind me of-“ 

Footsteps outside their hiding spot. 

Keith froze, paling and trembling slightly, his eyes wide with fear. 

The footsteps faded, but Keith didn’t relax. 

“Keith” Hunk called, wanting to touch the boy but afraid he would lash out. 

“We’re not there, bud. We’re okay, you’re not alone”

Keith took a shaky breath and nodded, and he barely jumped when Hunk placed his hand on his shoulder. 

Hunk tried to find a topic of conversation to distract Keith with.

“Cookies” he blurted out. Keith looked at him, wearing a confused pout. Well, better that than panic.

“What?”

“You know those cookies you like so much? The ones that kind of taste like peanut butter?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I was thinking about improve the recipe”

Keith wrinkled his nose 

“Why? It’s great as it is”

“Things shouldn’t not be changed because they’re good now”

Keith thought about that for a moment 

“I guess you’re right”

They continued with the topic of food for a while, stopping every time when they heard footsteps, and Hunk prompting Keith to continue talking when the footsteps disappeared. 

Hunk discovered that Keith’s favorite ice cream flavor was mint chocolate chip and that Shiro couldn’t stand it, which was one of the reasons he liked it so much. 

He also discovered Keith was a little shit.

Eventually, the conversation trailed off, and Hunk scrambled for something else to say. But he needn’t have, because Keith spoke before he could find something else to say. 

“Why do we always get stuck in the worst situations?” Keith asked. Hunk studied him. He was still pale and clammy, but he also looked kind of sad and frustrated. 

“Well” Hunk said “I came to the conclusion a while ago that we have the worst luck ever”

Keith huffed out a laugh, his smile crooked 

“I’m serious!” Hunk said “we both had to get our lions from the galra, we got stuck on that weblum, and we keep getting ourselves into these kind of situations”

Keith Let out a bark-like laugh.

“We do have bad luck don’t we?” He said, grinning. Hunk grinned back. 

Their helmets beeped three times. 

They didn’t waste any time on getting out. Keith’s muscles immediately loosed as he took a deep breath and stretched, enjoying the big space. 

“Ready to go home?”

Keith grinned at him “Yeah”

  
  


Hunk wanted to talk about the two incidents with Keith.

He sat on his bed in his pajamas, his hair damp from the shower as he pondered if he should go talk to him. 

Shiro had told him to approach him, but he didn’t want to put pressure on the guy.

He was convincing himself that he should go talk to him when someone knocked on his door. 

He jumped, but called to whoever it was to come in. 

It wasn’t Lance or Pidge as he had expected. 

Standing there, arms crossed in apprehension, hair also damp from the shower, was Keith. 

“Keith!” It took him a moment to gather himself “come in!”

Keith entered, and the door closed behind him. 

He looked nervous, and he wasn’t looking into Hunk’s eyes. When he didn’t speak, Hunk said 

“Did you want something, man?”

That’s seemed to do the trick.

Keith looked up 

“Uhh… Yeah” he swallowed “I um, wanted to talk to you about what happened today”

He stood still, looking like he was trying to gather the nerve to open his mouth again

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, Keith” Hunk said, voice soft “it’s your personal stuff, and I get it if you don’t want to share. You don’t owe me anything.”

Keith seemed to grow more distressed at these words 

“No, I- I  _ want  _ to tell you” he ran a hand through his hair “it’s just-“

“Hard?” Guessed Hunk. Keith seemed to deflate before his eyes. 

“Yeah” 

“I won’t judge” Hunk said after a moment “you can trust me”

Keith gave him a small, but truthful smile

“I know”

Silence enveloped them once more

“Do you want to sit down?” Hunk offered, not really sure of what to do.

Keith nodded and sat next to him on his bunk.

He frowned, his lips on a pout as he thought about how to start. 

“You know that I was in the system before I went to the Garrison” he started. Hunk nodded.

“Well, my dad died when I was eight. Never knew my mom” he laughed bitterly “Now we know why”

Hunk didn’t say anything.

“There was this foster father” he continued “I was nine, I think. And he was famous for housing the worst discipline cases” his voice turned bitter again at the last words.

“There was an incident involving a shop, a fire, and a bear”

When Hunk’s eyes widened Keith added 

“Don’t ask. That’s another story altogether”

Hunk nodded and let the boy continue with his story.

“So I got sent there for six months. This guy” and his voice wavered slightly “he wasn’t alcoholic, he wasn’t into drugs, he just  _ enjoyed _ punishing his foster kids”

He scoffed 

“I don’t even remember his name, he insisted on being called sir. If I did something wrong, break a plate, or arrive after curfew, or if I got in trouble at school…" 

And Keith was starting to fidget now, although there was a determined look on his eyes

“He would lock me in the closet, and if I made a sound” he licked his lips, his face had lost all color. 

“He would come and… make sure I couldn’t”

Hunk felt sick. 

There was a silence as Keith collected himself. He looked at Hunk, his voice back to normal, even casual.

“The guy’s in jail now” Keith assured him “he threw me to the floor one day and I hit my head. ‘Got a concussion. My teacher noticed and asked me what had happened, so I told her everything. They went to the house and found dried blood in the closet, they asked other kids who had stayed with the man, and they all confessed” he crossed his arms “and that’s that I guess”

He looked at Hunk, a mix between nervousness and weariness.

“Hunk?”

Hunk shook his head, his eyes were closed.

“You must have been one brave kid” he finally said, voice hoarse “to tell on the guy”

Keith hummed “that’s what Shiro said” 

He sounded easygoing now, calm as if this hadn’t caused him a huge trauma.

“How are you so calm about this?” He asked, voice weaving. Keith shrugged 

“What’s done is done. If I learned anything from being a foster kid, is that you can’t waste your life by complaining that you deserved better. Life isn’t fair, and I have to deal with more shit than most people” Hunk’s eyes widened.  _ There was more?? _

Hunk shook his head again 

“I’m just amazed you’re okay after all of that” 

Keith laughed 

“I’m not okay, Hunk” he said, chuckling, and Hunk believed him. Keith started to count with his fingers “I freak out in small spaces, I have serious trust issues, I flinch every time someone touches me when I don’t expect it…” 

and to Hunk’s astonishment, Keith smiled, as if he found Hunk amusing.

“And you’re at peace with all of this?” Hunk asked. Keith shrugged 

“Not always. One of the reasons I came to you tonight was because I hate the fact that I freeze so easily”

“That’s not your fault” Hunk immediately argued. Keith shrugged 

“I still want to try to get over it” 

“We’ll work on it” Hunk promised, and then added 

“Thank you. For, you know, trusting me with this”

Keith smiled at him, a little sadly, a little fond 

“You’re really easy to talk to”

“Still, thanks”

The ended up going to the kitchen. Hunk made peanut butter cookies while Keith sat on the table, listening to Hunk tell him stories about his childhood and his time at the Garrison. 

Keith happily listened to his stories, making comments or questions, and sometimes adding a short story of his own.

Hunk saw Shiro stand at the door, arms crossed and a pleased smile on his face as he watched them. When he noticed Hunk watching, he beamed at him and then walked away. 

That wasn’t the end of Keith’s problems, not by a long shot, but they were making progress, bit by bit. 

And that’s all Hunk could ask for.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Comments give me life :)


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